Summon Night: Sierra's Version
by Jenvaati
Summary: Sierra gets sucked into her Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 game and is stuck attempting to save Cliff Village from the threat that is Goura in an epic full of stupidity.
1. Chapter 1: Day I

Haha...alright, so I started this about a week ago (or two?) and this is the reason why I'm not updating _Confessions of a Capital L Looooooser_. Sort of. I guess if I really wanted to, I could have.

Before I say anything else...You knew this was coming. Someone was going to parody the game anyway!

I'm posting two chapters at once because the second chapter is more exciting in my opinion. Oh, and it'd be nice if you guys vote on endings. You can basically choose anyone in the game and I can make an ending for them. Yes, even Sarin and Byron, but they'd be together so I don't know why you'd bother. You can vote by the time I post up the seventh chapter, and if there aren't any votes I'll choose my own. (cackle) I'll probably end up doing that anyway!

Disclaimer: I despise Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. If I owned it, it'd have better music. Like seriously.

Summon Night: Sierra's Version

New Features:

-More endings!

-Changes in character ranging low to drastic!

-Improved Soundtrack!

-Includes a real world connection!

-More variety in night talks!

-Airhead main character!

-Different take on plot!

-More Extras after you beat the game!

_Prologue: _

It was a bright, sunny day. The birds chirped, the termites feasted, and the telemarketers annoyed people. The trees swayed and the flowers danced in the light breeze. It was 76˚, 2:00 P.M. in the afternoon. Most people were out—but not Sierra.

Sierra's room was dark. All the windows were boarded and the room door was locked in five different ways. It was pitch black inside. Sierra pulled her blanket over her head just in case some light managed to reach her.

She just _couldn't_ sleep in light. In fact, she personally destroyed all the night-lights her mother gave her years ago. That was when she had an undying fear of teddy bears. Of course, the night-lights had teddy bears ON them so they didn't help at all.

There was a knock at her door.

"Sierra, you still alive?" came her mother's voice. "Throw something at the door if you are."

Sierra's wondrous sleep broke. She grumbled. A barrage of things hit the door, and also a shout of, "I'M SLEEPING! GO AWAY!"

Sierra's mother waited. Soon there was a thump on the floor as Sierra fell. Then footsteps as she trudged towards the door to get the pillow that she had thrown. A split second later the door opened, and a tired and disgruntled Sierra stood.

Her mother chuckled. "Works every time."

Sierra groaned, but then made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

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Sierra was in trouble. She couldn't decide whether to have breakfast or lunch. Usually her father helped her decide that, but he had died of laughter because of something stupid that she said when she was five. That and her mother threw a ladle at him to get him to stop laughing. The doctors were unsure of whether the ladle killed him or the lack of oxygen. Either way, Sierra's mother hasn't been allowed to step within ten minutes of a ladle since.

After flipping a coin, Sierra decided to have lunch. She started to make a sandwich. Her mother wasn't really allowed into the kitchen and they usually had a cook, but it was his day off. She put chicken on the grill and then played Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 on her gameboy advance SP while she waited.

It was her third play-through of the game, but the beginning was so _boring_ and she couldn't exactly _focus_. She was also losing repeatedly against the Black Swordsman which was really _frustrating_ on top of it all, and that was due to her refusing to level up. She felt like attacking someone.

Instead, she started cutting tomatoes.

The game was close to the cutting board.

She cut clumsily, and some of the tomato juice flew from the tomato onto the game screen.

The lycopene started to react because the light of the screen acted as a catalyst.

Sierra dropped the knife and turned around. She decided to turn off the game.

Instead, she accidentally reset it, and then pressed the buttons too quick and started a new game.

A second later, she felt like she was in a vacuum cleaner, and then everything went black.

Chapter One: Day I

"(That was really weird…)" thought Sierra. She opened her eyes, and then realized that she was on a cliff. "Waaah! This sucks!"

Soon she was slammed to a wall by the all-too-friendly Ryouga.

"Ow…" murmured Sierra.

Ryouga glanced at her. Sierra was sprawled on the floor, stripped of her dignity but at least she was alive. "You okay?"

"Just Dandy—_Oh the ever-loving chocolate fudge cheesecake with whipped cream on top! Ryouga?" _exclaimed Sierra.

"Uh……Did I slam you too hard?" said Ryouga worriedly.

"Wait, if you're here and I'm here, that can only mean one thing!" said Sierra rapidly.

"That…you're supposed to take me to Goura's Gate?" tried Ryouga.

"No! That I'm hallucinating! I've never had a hallucination before! I'm so _excited!_" said Sierra giddily.

At this point, Ryouga was freaked out. He threw back his fist and gave Sierra a good, hard punch to knock her back to her senses or so he hoped. "Was that a hallucination?"

"That hurt!" whined Sierra. "So uh, is there a reason I'm here?"

Ryouga sighed. "You promised to take me to Goura's Gate, remember?"

"Hmm…OH! Yeah, a Craftknight's promise is as strong as topaz, 'course I remember!" said Sierra, trying to remember what happened in the beginning of her Summon Night 2 game.

"Steel," corrected Ryouga. "Or as tough as chains maybe. Not topaz."

"Same thing," muttered Sierra. "Hey, do you hear something?"

"No," answered Ryouga.

Sierra paused to listen. She heard a rustle from the direction towards…wait, wasn't that where Aera's or Edgar's house used to be? She started walking towards the sound.

"Where are you going?" asked Ryouga, hastening to follow.

"Don't you hear that?" Sierra said.

Ryouga heard the sound then. He nodded and walked ahead of Sierra. She looked offended, because she was walking as fast as she could and he appeared to be enjoying a casual walk.

"It's a green…thingy!" said Sierra intelligently.

"A summon creature? It looks like it's being attacked," observed Ryouga.

"Oh er…yeah, that's what I meant," said Sierra. "I'll help it!" Then her mind backtracked. She knew that this was Arno, but she always named the summon creature 'Salt' instead. And…this was also where a demonic rabbit dwelled…

Sure enough, an evil rabbit jumped from behind the 'green thingy' and almost jumped on Sierra. She ducked behind Ryouga just in time.

"Some craftknight you are," commented Ryouga.

Sierra found a hammer with her and brandished it. "No rabbit's gonna threaten me and get away with it!" She madly started to attack the rabbit. Ryouga backed away. It looked like a strange, demented version of whack-a-mole, just with a rabbit and a crazed freak.

When the rabbit was nothing more than a pancake, Sierra and Ryouga turned their attention to the green thingy.

"You okay? What's your name?" asked Sierra cautiously. "I'm Sierra."

"You are? I thought you were Aer—never mind," said Ryouga.

"I'm Salt! Nice to meet you, Sierra," said Salt happily.

"(_Score!_ I always liked Salt better than Arno!) And that guy over there is Ryouga," continued Sierra.

"Don't call me 'that guy'…" muttered Ryouga.

"You should go to Ryouga's place and he'll treat you!" said Sierra.

"Hey, don't just invite people to my house!" said Ryouga angrily. "Why can't the summon creature go to _your_ house?"

"Because…I…forgot where it is?" said Sierra. It's one thing to find the house on a gameboy advance screen…

"You're impossible," said Ryouga, his eyes cast heaven-ward. "There should have been a ward. How did you get in here anyway, Salt?"

"A ward? I didn't feel it," said Salt.

"I guess I'll let the Chief know…I'll meet you later about Goura's gate, Sierra," said Ryouga.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said Sierra, not listening to him.

Ryouga left.

"Can you walk, Salt?" asked Sierra.

"Yes. The wind says thank you for helping me, and I say it too!" said Salt.

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It took a while for Sierra to find 'her house,' and she even managed to get lost. She had to ask Salt for directions.

"Saaaaallt," whined Sierra. "I can't find my house!"

"But…don't you live there?" asked Salt.

"What's your point?" grumbled Sierra. "D'you think you can ask the wind where it is?"

"Okay," said Salt. "Whoooosh, shwoooo! Tweet! The wind says it's thattaway!"

"Thanks, Salt! Uh, Salt? Are you okay…?" Sierra was worried. Salt swayed and fell to the ground.

_One hour later:_

"(What kind of direction is 'thattaway' anyway…)" Sierra muttered under her breath as she half-dragged-half-carried Salt to her destination. Then she met her supposed (foster) family members for the first time, who immediately tended to Salt and asked her what in the world took her so long that she arrived at sunset.

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"Stray summon creatures aren't allowed in Cliff village, you know, Sierra," said Blaire after Salt regained consciousness.

"O-oh…then I'll just leave. The wind will take care of me," said Salt sadly. The green summon creature started to walk off the premises, but was still hurt. Salt stopped and panted.

"She doesn't have to leave right now," said Orin. "Let's wait till Salt gets better."

"What are you talking about!" said Tatiana loudly. "Salt's obviously a boy!"

"Are you kidding?" said Orin, mouth agape. "She's a girl! What do you think, Sierra?"

"Uh…Salt's um…What _are_ you, Salt?" asked Sierra.

"I'm a child of the wind!" said Salt with a big grin.

"That doesn't help," said Tatiana.

"Maybe she'll tell us if you feed her your sweets," teased Orin.

Tatiana's eyes narrowed. "Are you making fun of my sweets?"

"I always wanted to try Tatiana's sweets!" interrupted Sierra.

"Huh? But you've tried them before…" said Tatiana.

"I got it!" said Blaire suddenly. "Let's have a bonding ritual!"

"Were you thinking the whole time, dad?" asked Orin.

"What of it?" snapped Blaire. "If you're going to be so _observant_, maybe you should go notify the rest of the village of my plot—er, plan."

"That made no sense!" protested Orin.

"Just do it, Orin," said Tatiana.

Orin shot a glare in Tatiana's direction and left the house.

"What's a bonding ritual?" asked Salt.

"Oh wait, maybe we should've asked Salt and Sierra before we had Orin tell everyone," said Tatiana.

"Shoot," said Blaire.

"Umm…I think a bonding ritual is when we listen to the chief talk about the banana famine that happened years ago!" said Sierra helpfully.

Blaire nodded. "He always seems to add that in somewhere. Would you like to be Sierra's guardian beast, Salt?"

"You mean…I have to help her and trust her like the human that she is even if humans were really mean to me before and I almost died because of them? _Let's do it!_ The wind agrees!" said Salt excitedly.

"That settles it," said Blaire.

"Hey! I didn't even get to say anything yet!" protested Sierra.

"You were going to agree anyway," said Tatiana.

"But I wanted to _say_ it," whined Sierra.

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"Is everyone here? Hmm…I say this warrants for a head count! And since I'm the chief I can do whatever I want!" the chief cackled, and then had a coughing fit. "Anyway, one, two, three, four…"

_Later…_

"Nineteen—ah, lost count _again…_one, two, three—."

"Everyone's here! Get on with it!" interrupted a Villager.

"What's the hurry? I think we should start with the history of the bonding ritual first. It's such an intriguing story…You see, it all started with the banana famine years ago…Can you believe living knowing that you couldn't have the tasty yellow fruit? I've lived through it, and let me tell you that it is no easy feat. I had banana cravings every single day through it, and once this girl came up to me and tried to sell me tangerines during the famine! I was outraged, which leads me to the time when a seagull stole a cookie from me and I got really angry. And I mean really angry. I threw a rock at the seagull—did I ever tell you that the rock was from one of my ex-girlfriends? It was a topaz gem, but it was all worth it to get the cookie back. Of course, she dumped me when she found out that I didn't have it anymore. She also married that old man that stands in front of the path to the fishing hole. They're both probably plotting against me, just because I can fish and he can't! Which reminds me, I have to cook fish tonight…I can't remember though, should I use a pinch of salt or a teaspoon…blah blah blah" said the chief.

"What does this have to do with the ritual?" wondered Salt, more to himself than anyone else.

Sierra, meanwhile, was fascinated. She took in every word the chief had said. "Chief, what kind of fish are you cooking tonight?"

"Trout," said the chief. "Do you want to come over?"

"Sorry, but I was going to eat Tatiana's sweets for dinner tonight," said Sierra.

"My legs hurt," said Salt. "Can we finish the bonding and the ritual-ing?"

"Yeah, sure. Salt is now Sierra's guardian beast. Finished," said the chief.

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"Since Salt is new to the craftknight business, why don't you explain to…it…how weapons are made, Sierra?" said Blaire.

"Uh, sure…(What'd the game call him again?)…Master Blake," said Sierra.

"Blaire," corrected Blaire.

"Right, Master Blaire! A'right, Salt, it's reeeaally simple. You put the things into the big thing and then we use the other thing to make stuff!" said Sierra, motioning with her hands.

"We put materials into a forge to melt them and then we hammer them into weapon shapes," said Orin tonelessly.

"Way to ruin it, Orin," said Tatiana.

"What do you mean? Sierra's totally misguiding Salt right now!" shot back Orin.

Blaire cleared his throat. "Now you have to swing a hammer one hundred times!"

"Sure," said Salt.

"So, Tatiana, can you give me some sweets? I've been _dying_ to have one!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Definitely dying," said Orin. "What's wrong with you anyway?"

"Why should there be something wrong with Sierra if she wants my cooking?" huffed Tatiana. "Follow me, Sierra! Let's leave behind that loser!"

Tatiana left, with Sierra close behind.

"Where'd Sierra go?" asked Blaire. "Oh well. You'll have to do the hammer exercise instead of her then, Orin."

"What? Salt's not even my guardian beast!" said Orin.

"That's what they all say," snarled Blaire.

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"Those were sooooo delicious!" squealed Sierra. "You're so cool, Tatiana!"

Tatiana flushed. "Thanks! Maybe Orin's right, you're a little too nice today."

"Are there any more? Please say there are more. I really need more. Those were so good! Give meeee!"

"Yeah, there are more. You and Orin used to hate them so much that I had them stockpiled. Treat yourself," said Tatiana.

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A bloated Sierra walked into the basement, the new room (at least to her) that she was to share with Salt. The poor guardian beast was drained and could hardly move.

"I'm so tired," said Salt. "I'm going to walk and tell the wind everything that's going on."

Salt left the workshop. After a few minutes of digesting, Sierra left too but couldn't find Salt and ended up at the fishing hole.

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_End of Day I._

_Talked with: Chief_

"Hello, Sierra," said the chief. "I wasn't doing anything suspicious that involved any old men or cheating at fishing or anything of the sort. Not that you would suspect me. You know, you remind me a little of my little sister, funny how that turns out grammatically. I never did like grammar. But then, I don't speak slang either. Not that I ever tried. But there was this one time when I was playing poker…blah blah"

Sierra nodded along and interrupted every once in a while with an intelligent comment (at least to her). She was impressed—no one she knew could ever keep up talking like that. She also found whatever the chief said to be _extremely _interesting.

"So as I was saying, the banana famine was worldwide, but it was during this period where I developed a taste for cookies. Not just any cookies, but chocolate chip cookies. I particularly love homemade cookies. One time, a girl offered me wonderful-looking cookies but I had to say no because I was in my doughnut phase. That was the worst period of my life, you know. I don't know what got into me, but I remember that I got sick once because of a particular doughnut that wasn't baked thoroughly. I sucked the store dry of its money for that. It also happened to be the old man's favorite store! Hee hee!"

"Hee hee!" Sierra laughed too. "Way to get back at them!"

"I know! It was worth getting sick for," agreed the chief.

"I have to go to sleep now," said Sierra, fighting a yawn. "How do I get back to my house?"

"Thattaway. You can't miss it," said the chief.

Sierra arrived at her home an hour later.


	2. Chapter 2: Day II

I just wanted to say...The last time I beat the game (Random Story alert!) I named Aera- Pepper and Arno- Salt. So when Salt said, "I'm Salt. Nice to meet you Pepper," I cracked up. I'm beating it with Edgar now if anyone cares...I tried to do an Edgar/Dinah game but Dinah was so annoying that I couldn't get through the beginning with her. She'll be the only guardian beast that I couldn't beat the game with after I bet this one (Edgar/Loki).

Chapter Two: Day II

Sierra woke up and yawned. "(Where am I…? Oh yeah, I'm in Lyndbaum…I wonder if mom remembers I exist) Was there something I was supposed to do today?"

"Who are you talking to, Master Sierra?" asked Salt.

"Master?" Sierra grabbed Salt roughly, despite having just woken up. "_Who put you up to this and what are they paying you?_"

"Wh-What did I do?" said a frightened Salt.

Sierra calmed down a little and let go of Salt. "Don't call me Master."

"Just Sierra? But I'm a guardian beast…aren't I supposed to call you Master?" asked Salt.

"Please don't," said Sierra.

"Okay Master Sierra. Oops," said Salt.

"S'okay. D'you remember if I was supposed to do something today?" said Sierra.

"Let me ask the wind," said Salt. "Whooooooo! The wind says that you need to meet 'that guy.'"

"Which guy?" asked Sierra.

"That one," answered Salt.

"Orin, Ryouga, or Blake?" asked Sierra.

"It's Blaire actually…" corrected Salt.

"Oh yeah! Master Blaire. I _totally_ knew that!" said Sierra.

"You did? You're so smart, Sierra!" said Salt, who was equally clueless. "We have to meet Ryouga today."

"Oooh, the Goura Gate promise. Oh shoot! It's 'that part' already!" exclaimed Sierra. She turned towards the staircase and began to walk down. "Coming, Salt?"

"Yup! Whee! Oh no, ouch!" Salt tripped on the floor.

"We need to get you a helmet one of these days," said Sierra, frowning at Salt's scraped knee.

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"It took you long enough," muttered Ryouga.

"Ryouga, have you ever thought of a hair cut?" asked Sierra.

"No."

"Are you sure? I think you'd look good with short hair," insisted Sierra.

"No."

"But honestly—!"

"No. Are you going to take me to Goura's Gate now?" interrupted Ryouga.

"(How am I supposed to do that? I'm not an Edge Fencer or anything!) Yup! You're so impatient, Ryouga…"

"What do you expect? I need to get out of the house before Lynn wakes up," said Ryouga irritably.

"What? Are you talking about me behind my back, Ryouga? I heard my name," said a soft voice. Lynn stepped into the room. "Oh…hi, Sierra."

"(She needs a haircut too…)" thought Sierra.

"Are you just going to stand there? I think a 'Good morning' kiss is perfect right now. Don't be shy, Sierra," said Lynn.

"Uhh…" Sierra flushed. "I'm busy. I'm going to some random place with Ryouga! Bye!" Sierra grabbed Ryouga's hand and rushed out of the house.

"Smart," said Ryouga sarcastically as soon as she let go.

"Why thank you!" said Sierra happily.

"What's a 'kiss,' Sierra? Can you show me?" asked Salt. "And why were you all red with Ryouga's sister?"

"Her name's Lynn…" said Sierra. "And I was just embarrassed!"

"Yeah right." Ryouga smirked at her. "Now take me to Goura's Gate!"

"You have a one-track mind, seriously…" murmured Sierra. "To Goura's Gate we go!...In one minute!" She pulled Salt over to the side and whispered, "(How do we get there?)"

"(The wind says to up the stairs, take a right, and then a left, and then another left, and then a right and it's right there)" Salt whispered back.

"(Come again?)," whispered Sierra.

"(Stairs, right, left, left, right, right)," whispered Salt.

"(Repeat it one more time)," whispered Sierra.

"(Up the stairs, right, left, left, right, right)," whispered Salt.

Ryouga stepped between them. "Any day now. By the way, why's Salt here? This promise was between us only."

"Because…Salt's my guardian beast?" said Sierra.

"Okay. Let's go now," said Ryouga.

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It took Salt and Ryouga's combined efforts and lots of arguing to guide Sierra to Goura's Gate. They stood in front of the door, hindered by the next obstacle.

"How do you get in?" asked Ryouga. "I know you've done it before."

"Yeeeah. See, I take this hammer, right? And then I just smash the door, and say 'OPEN SEZ ME' and viola!" said Sierra.

"Oooh, can I do it?" asked Salt.

"I think only Sharp Choppers can do this," said Ryouga.

"Aww…"

"(Sharp Choppers must be the equivalent of Edge Fencers here…) A'right! So watch and weep, underlings!" Sierra smashed the door with all her might and then shouted "OPEN SEZ ME!"

The door opened, much to Ryouga's surprise. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Neither did I…I mean, how can you say that, Ryouga? What kind of friend are you!" accused Sierra.

"Yeah whatever," said Ryouga.

Just then, Sierra noticed that she was wearing a blue necklace. It was the same one that Aera/Edgar wore in the game except in a different color. How strange.

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"Ahahahaha! Thanks for opening the gate for me, losers!" said Gedharm, a summoner. "I am Gedharm Camcalossa! You can remember me by my long, black, beautiful, curly hair and my last name that indicates me as a summoner!" Gedharm walked up to Salt, slapped him, and backed away slightly. "And now I have a hostage! Hee hee hee! Guide me to Goura or…he, she, it dies!"

"Sure thing, dude!" exclaimed Sierra. Ryouga rolled his eyes.

_Later…_

"_This_ is Goura? How do I revive him? Tell me!" Gedharm slapped Salt for an answer.

"No clue," said Sierra flatly.

"Don't lie to me. _How?_" Gedharm slapped Salt again.

"Owww…" whined Salt.

"I _really_ don't know," said Sierra.

"Yes you do! TELL ME! You don't want me to hurt this…thing…do you?" threatened Gedharm.

"If I knew, I'd obviously tell you by now," said Sierra, though she played the game twice before and knew exactly how to revive Goura.

Gedharm eyed her maliciously, and then threw Salt aside. "Fine, I'll take your word for it."

"Enough!" said Ryouga.

"Oh that was so ultra cool and _assertive_ Ryouga! Way to take control!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Just…shut up, Sierra…" said Ryouga. He walked closer to Goura and his body enflamed.

"He's…giving power to Goura!" said Gedharm, stating the obvious.

Sierra rushed to Salt. "Are you okay?"

"Yes…" said Salt. He was bleeding. "Thanks for asking, Sierra."

"I'll take care of you as soon as we get back—what are you DOING Ryouga? You look so freakin' WEIRD!" said Sierra loudly. And then she had a flashback of the story line.

"Can't you tell?" asked Ryouga coolly. He had transformed. "I'm reviving Goura."

"Yesss, my dreams are coming true!" said Gedharm. "Now all I have to do is kill this guy and take credit! Woo-hoo! Come on, Cattan, do your stuff!" He summoned a small tank-like summon creature.

"I'll kill it for you, Ryouga!" exclaimed Sierra. "Oh no, I forgot to make a sword…Oh well, hammers are fun." She rushed toward the Cattan. It was really easy to fight with the hammer actually. It didn't weigh her down as much as other weapons, and she was really fast. She jumped and hit the Cattan, and tried not to let it hit her. She managed to get quite hurt, however. Soon she defeated the Cattan.

"Yaaay, Sierra!" cheered Salt.

"Grr…Well guess what? I'm a summoner, so I'll just summon _another_ Cattan!" said Gedharm maniacally.

"Nuh-uh," said Sierra.

"Uh huh," said Gedharm.

"Nuh-uh," said Sierra.

"Uh huh," said Gedharm.

"Nuh-uh," said Sierra.

"Uh huh," said Gedharm.

Sierra threw the broken Cattan at Gedharm. Gedharm fainted.

"Nice," commented Ryouga.

"Uh…do you have _paws_, Ryouga?" asked Sierra.

"These are _claws_, Sierra. _Claws,"_ corrected Ryouga.

"Sierra, Ryouga's still reviving Goura! Is that bad?" asked Salt.

"Yup. Goura's going to try to destroy the village and stuff," said Sierra conversationally.

"Oh, okay. That's not that important," said Salt.

"Totally agree with you," said Sierra.

Blaire ran into the scene. "What's happening, Sierra? What's all this rumbling? Who's the guy with the big paws? Why's there a guy with long, black, curly hair on the floor? And is Salt bleeding?"

"That's a lot of questions, Master Blaire," said Salt.

"They're CLAWS," said Ryouga angrily. "You know, I can just turn around and beat you to a pulp, Blake."

"It's Blaire," corrected Sierra and Blaire simultaneously.

"The guy on the floor is Gedharm," Salt informed Blaire. "He's a summoner."

"Gedharm beat up Salt so I beat Gedharm up," said Sierra.

Blaire wiped a tear from his eye. "You're truly a member of my family…"

"Am I _surrounded by idiots?_" asked Ryouga loudly. "I'm _reviving Goura, and no one's doing a THING about it!_"

"…What's your point?" asked Blaire.

"I'm going to destroy your VILLAGE. What do you say to THAT?" asked Ryouga.

"Oh, you won't do a thing," said Sierra, waving her hand like it was nothing. "You're my best friend. It's Lynn who's the evil one."

"………How do you know that?" asked Ryouga.

"Sierra's a genius!" said Salt.

Blaire laughed out loud. "You're such a comedian, Salt."

"W-well, to show you all that I'M the evil one, I'm going to curse Blake! _So there!_" Ryouga laughed evilly. There was a blinding flash, and "It's Blaire" from Blaire, and then…

Blaire was sweating, and panting on the floor.

"Great, just _fantastic._ Thanks _so much_, Ryouga. Now I have to drag Salt AND Master Blaire to my house. How strong do you think I _am_ anyway?" said Sierra angrily. In fact, she was so angry at this injustice that she started to glow and enflame.

She was….

In Beta Shift Mode.

The normally chin-length, blue haired girl (an accidental hair dying experiment) suddenly had silver armor on, as part of the Shift. Her hair lengthened to shoulder-length. There was cool background music from a nearby radio (Maybe it was Gabriel's?).

"What are you going to do?" asked Ryouga, bored.

"I'm going to take out my anger on this wall!" said Sierra. She started to beat up a nearby wall. Ryouga stared at her for a moment, and then stealthily walked away, dragging Gedharm with him.

It was only when Blaire and Salt simultaneously moaned in pain that Sierra decided to drag them back home. She arrived at dusk.

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"What did you DO?" asked Tatiana loudly.

"I didn't do anything! Ryouga turned into a summon creature or something with paws, and then he started to revive Goura, only no one cared, so he got mad and cursed Blaire! And…yeah," explained Sierra.

Tatiana grumbled. "I'll take care of him. What happened to Salt?"

"There was this summoner who beat him up," said Sierra.

"You met all kinds of people today," remarked Orin.

"Yeah, but you could've taken better care of my dad and your summon creature!" said Tatiana.

"Sorry…" muttered Sierra.

"Will you people take me to a bed already?" asked Blaire, peeved.

"Okay, okay," said Orin. He dragged his dad up the stairs.

"I'll go tell everyone that the village is threatened," said Tatiana. "But first, dad wanted to give you this shapestone and iron ore. He also wanted to yell at you to make a sword, but he's too busy being sick right now, which is YOUR FAULT. I'm too busy to yell at you in his place, but you better GET TO IT!"

"A'right…" muttered Sierra.

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"This sword sucks," said Sierra.

"Really?" asked Salt, disheartened. "Let me look at it." He took the sword, and then it broke into pieces.

"Well, we can do better next time I guess…" said Sierra.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Salt.

"Yes," said Sierra.

"What did I do? I can't improve if you won't tell me. And you can't always cover for me…Am I…too useless for this?" asked Salt.

"A-actually, I really don't know," stuttered Sierra. "I never did this before. I figured that it would just be a ton of hammering in random places—sorry for almost pounding your hand in there by the way—so it might even be both of us."

"Oh, then we'll improve together!" said Salt happily.

"That's the spirit! But we have no sword. I know! Let's put all the pieces of the broken sword back in the forge and mold it into something else!" said Sierra.

"Yay!" said Salt.

The finished piece came out as tiny metal stick.

Sierra breathed happily. "It's…so beautiful!"

"What's it for?" said Salt, turning it over.

"Umm…."

"…."

"….."

"……"

"I got it! We'll give it to Master Blaire as a get well present!" said Sierra finally.

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"Okay…But what am I going to use this for?" asked Blaire.

"A paperweight?" tried Sierra.

"That's good enough for me!" said Blaire cheerfully. He had bandages around his head now, and lay in the bed. He seemed restless though, even if he was burning up, flushed from fever, and sweating. "So…did you make that sword I yelled at Tatiana to yell at you for?"

"Yup!" said Sierra.

"Where is it?" asked Blaire.

"You're holding it!" said Salt.

"….Oh," said Blaire. "I never actually said this to anyone before, but that's a _really, really_ pathetic sword."

"It's really dark outside, Sierra," said Salt.

"I know…We'll be right back, Master Blaire! We'll get some more materials and then make another sword! (Actually I was hoping for fists but…he really wants a sword)," said Sierra.

"Don't be out too long. There are creepy stalker people with large claw-like paws out there, you know," warned Blaire.

"Wow, really? That sounds dangerous. Later, Master Blaire!" Sierra and Salt dashed out of the house.

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"Yaay, a sword shapestone!" cheered Salt.

"You get _really_ good directions from the wind, Salt! I'm impressed!" complimented Sierra.

Salt blushed. "Thank you!"

There was a rustle in a nearby bush.

"What was that?" asked Salt.

"I didn't hear anything," said Sierra.

The rustle grew louder.

"There it is again!" said Salt.

"Are you sure?" Sierra still heard nothing.

A Cattan jumped out of the bush and landed on Sierra's face. She fell backwards.

"Gerritoff!" said Sierra. It was muffled because of the Cattan.

Salt kicked the weak Cattan off of her. "Are you okay, Sierra?"

"Yeah…" Sierra stood up. "Thanks Salt…I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there to fend off those murderous Cattan things."

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"This sword is still pathetic," said Blaire flatly, as Salt and Sierra presented them with a metal stick that was slightly bigger than the last one.

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"You two make my fever seem worse, you know," said Blaire, the next time Salt and Sierra came back.

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"Finally! This one is actually _presentable!_" said Blaire. Salt and Sierra exchanged triumphant looks. "Now go away and let me sleep!"

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"I'm going to talk to the wind," said Salt.

"Okay! Have fun, Salt!" said Sierra. She watched her guardian beast leave. "Let's see…the Chief's by the fish pond, Tatiana's probably at the stove making more desserts, and Master Blaire says that there are creepy stalkers with paw-like paws somewhere in the forest. Where should I go today?"

_End of Day II_

_Talked with: Ryouga_

Ryouga was in his human form when he saw Sierra casually strolling in a clearing in the forest. She was looking for him, of course, but she also wasn't sure how to get back to the entrance of the Entry Woods.

"Boo," said Ryouga quietly.

"Waaah! Oh, it's just you Ryouga," said Sierra. She put a hand to her heart. He really scared her that time.

"Just me?" Ryouga frowned. "I'm supposed to be your enemy! You should be more scared than that."

"You're not my enemy. You're my friend, even if you need to cut your hair," said Sierra.

"No. Just…no," said Ryouga.

"Please?"

"No."

"Why? Do you look up to your sister that much, that you need to grow the same length of hair?" asked Sierra.

"That has nothing to do with it! Okay…maybe a little. But I'm not going to cut it!" exclaimed Ryouga.

"Stubborn, aren't we?" asked Sierra slyly.

Ryouga grumbled. "You shouldn't be fraternizing with the enemy…"

"Oh, come on! You're such a spoilsport, Ryouga!" said Sierra loudly. "It's getting late though…I need sleep." She yawned. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get out of here, would you?"

Ryouga sighed and explained directions as simply as possible, and extremely slowly.


	3. Chapter 3: Day III

_Pointless Chatter: Sharp Chopper sounds like some kind of helicopter doesn't it? _

Chapter Three: Day III

"Sierra! Get up!" It was Orin's voice, and incredibly loud, too, or it wouldn't have carried to the basement like that. Sierra grumbled. She opened her eyes and in a few minutes she confronted him.

"What's up, Orin…?" asked Sierra tiredly.

"There's a town meeting, and you have to be there! Basically because it's about you," explained Orin.

"Oh, fine…Is Master Blaire and Tatiana going?" asked Sierra.

"I'm going!" said Salt pleasantly.

"Tatiana's already there, and dad's too tired to go. But he wrote a note for you," said Orin. He handed it to her.

"Oh cool!" Sierra peered down at the small slip of paper.

_Sierra,_

_Have fun at the town meeting! They're going to be discussing how irresponsible you are and how the world is going to end and how it's your entire fault. I remember when there was a town meeting about me…good times, good times. Enjoy it while it lasts!_

_Blaire_

"Yay! I'll be the center of attention!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Yay!" repeated Salt. "I can't wait to see how they all put you down in different ways creatively!"

"That was a mouthful," commented Orin. "But well said! You have a fine guardian beast with you, Sierra."

"Yup, Salt's amazing. Shall we go then?" asked Sierra.

"Yeah. Follow me. Lately you've been kinda bad at directions," said Orin.

"It's all _lies! _LIES, I tell you!" protested Sierra.

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Sierra looked at all the Villagers, as they were called in her game. They honestly were all called 'Villager,' even though they were different people. Now she knew why—they all looked rather the same.

"She led Ryouga to Goura's Gate!" said Villager.

"And Ryouga's reviving Goura!" said Villager.

"So _she's_ reviving Goura!" concluded Villager. (Technique: Logical Fallacy)

"She's been best friends with him for _years!_" said Villager.

"They must've been plotting for _years!_" said Villager.

"She's leading to the destruction of our village!" said Villager.

"She burned down all my crops!" said Villager.

"Did she really?" asked Villager curiously.

"No, but it makes it more dramatic," said Villager.

"Do you even HAVE crops?" asked Villager.

"No….but no one cares about THAT," said Villager.

"I care! I want a salad right now!" said Villager.

"Well, guess what! I don't _grow_ salads!" said Villager.

"You can't EVEN grow salads! You have to grow lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and all that stuff SEPERATELY," argued Villager.

"I want a salad!" whined Villager.

"You are SO annoying!" said Villager.

"I don't care! I'm hungry!" whined Villager.

"You're not getting anything from MY crops!" said Villager.

"You don't grow crops!" argued Villager.

"She burned your crops anyway!" Villager reminded them.

Soon, all the Villagers started a fist fight with their disagreement. The chief had to call them to silence with a long winded explanation of the banana famine till someone threw an actual banana at him. He stopped and started to eat it.

"Anyway!" said Orin. "Even if Sierra messed up _completely_, and she has less than ten days to fix this, and she has a horrible sense of direction, and…oh, this is _hopeless!"_

There was an uproar and Orin was lifted by the mob and cheered on.

"Uh…this isn't good…" murmured Sierra.

The Chief took another bite of the banana.

"HEY! If you all don't SHUT UP right now, I'm going to MAKE you shut up!" yelled Tatiana.

The crowd shut up.

"Thanks. I was getting a headache. I couldn't concentrate on how Sierra was going to doom us all properly."

"HEY! Is _anyone_ on my side?" asked Sierra.

"Frankly, no," said Orin.

The rabblement of villagers started to scream in agreement.

"Why don't we just _seal_ Goura again?" asked Sierra.

The villagers paused to consider the option.

"How can we trust you if you helped unseal it in the first place?" asked Villager.

"Yeah! And how do we know you'll _actually_ do it if you won't give me a salad?" asked Villager.

"Do you even know HOW to seal Goura again?" asked Villager.

"Yeah, yeah!" the Villagers started to chant.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Tatiana.

The Villagers quieted again.

"Thank you kindly. I got up to thinking how Goura would incinerate the village, but I couldn't envision the bodies 'cause all of you wouldn't shut up," explained Tatiana.

"Why won't you all trust Sierra? She helped me, she's not a bad person! Ryouga's the one who unsealed Goura, not her!" said Salt, coming to her defense.

"But she LED Ryouga to Goura!" argued Villager.

"What he said!" agreed Villager.

"Yeah, but she's going to fix it! I trust Sierra, all of you should too! So that at least if we're all destroyed, we'll get destroyed knowing that it was Sierra's fault even after she tried!" said Salt cheerfully.

The Villagers, Orin, and Tatiana cheered.

"You're brilliant, Salt!" said Orin.

The Chief finished the banana. "You should find the Daemon Edge. It'll reseal Goura, I think. Either that or it helps revive it. I can't remember."

"_Okay!_" said Sierra enthusiastically.

"So you should head for the Wind Fortress which is somewhere in the middle of the Entry Woods. Go for it!" said the Chief.

"Going! And thanks, Salt. Those Villagers looked like they wanted to kill me," said Sierra.

"Yay, Sierra thanked me!" said Salt.

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"Ooooh myyy cooookie!" exclaimed Sierra. "Fist Shapestone! TO THE FORGE AND BACK AGAIN!"

"Yay! I love backtracking! The wind loves it too!" said Salt happily.

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Sierra fitted the knuckles over her hands and admired them. She and Salt fought some wolf-like creatures to get into the Wind Fortress, where they met two kids. There was a small boy and a small girl. The boy was scared of Salt at first, which made Sierra laugh really hard.

"Ahahahahaa! You're scared of _that_?" Sierra tried to breathe but failed miserably. She turned blue and keeled over.

"Oh no! You killed Sierra!" accused Salt.

"I didn't mean to!" wailed the boy.

"They're not scary, Rocky. They just have issues," said the girl.

"I'll do my best!" said Salt suddenly. He summoned a small tornado of wind which picked Sierra up and dropped her to the floor, hard. Sierra stopped laughing.

"Sooo…what are you two kids doing here anyway? Did you see a fancy sword 'round here by any chance?" asked Sierra.

"No," said the girl. "It's our hideout, the Wind Brigade. Our leader left us here and Rocky has a small sword to protect us just in case. But the sword broke…"

"Sierra can fix it!" said Salt. "That's what Craftknights do! That, and get villages destroyed!"

"You didn't have to tell them the second thing…" grumbled Sierra.

"Will you really fix it, Miss Sierra?" asked Rocky.

Sierra grabbed Rocky roughly. "_Miss Sierra? Who put you up to this and what are they paying you?_"

"W-what?"

Déjà vu

Sierra took a deep breath and let go of Rocky. "Don't say 'Miss' EVER again."

"O-okay," said Rocky, shaken.

"And, can I have your autograph?"

Rocky brightened. "Sure!" He handed her 'Rocky's Autograph.' "And here's the broken sword. Thank you for fixing it, Sierra."

"A'right! New mission! Let's-a-go, Salt!" said Sierra enthusiastically.

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"Hi, Sierra. You're back already?" said Orin.

"Yup! Aren't you happy to see me?" asked Sierra.

"Is…that a rhetorical question?" asked Orin.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Dad's got worse by the way. I was just going out to find Hononas. That herb's supposed to be really powerful and it has a strong smell. Maybe if we find that…" said Orin.

"I'll keep an eye out for it!" said Sierra, saluting him. "Laaater!"

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"I'm back, minions!" announced Sierra.

"Am I a minion too?" asked Salt, raising its hand.

"Nope, we're partners. Here's your sword, Rocky," said Sierra.

"Oh, it's shinier than before!" said Rocky, delighted.

"Yup. I polished it!" said Sierra proudly. "I've got to go now. Something about an herb."

Sierra left the Wind fortress by its other entrance, or the exit, and wandered around. After breaking crates and finding a red triangle on the ground that gave her a headache, she found someone on the ground, hurt, and Orin, and a big plant thing.

She ran up to the three focal points of the scene. "Orin! This time whoever's hurt isn't my fault, promise!"

Orin was injured too. "It will be if you don't kill that plant!"

Sierra's headache grew worse. Stupid red triangle. In the game they were BLUE and they REFRESHED. She absentmindedly tore out a leaf of the Borzak in anger and stuffed it into her mouth. Maybe food would calm her down. She was deaf to the cries and shouts of the poor Borzak. "Mmm, tasty. Try some, Salt!"

The Borzak was too wounded to attack Sierra and Salt properly. Every time it attacked them with vines, it missed. The insect summon creatures tried to attack the duo too, but Sierra just swatted them away.

Salt didn't like the Borzak at all and spit it out. "I wish I liked it too…" It said sadly.

Sierra shrugged and continued to eat the Borzak. Gabriel, the summon creature previously seen on the ground, and Orin stared in amazement. After the Borzak was completely eaten, the insect summon creatures flew away, afraid that they would find themselves in Sierra's digestive system too.

"So, who's that, Orin?" asked Sierra.

"I'm Gabriel," said the white-haired summon creature. "Borzak smells horrible by the way. You'll have bad breath for a while…"

"Oh no! I put the Borzak in my mouth too!" said Salt.

"Oh great. We won't be able to find the Hononas because of Sierra's bad breath," groaned Orin.

"I can usually smell them, but the Borzak's odor is too great," said Gabriel.

"Way to go, Sierra. Did you have to _eat_ the thing?" asked Orin with animosity.

"Sorry…"

Gabriel shot Orin a look. "You don't have to go that far. Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

Sierra nodded, but still went around with Salt.

"The wind says it's that way!" said Salt.

"And the wind's always right! Lead the way, Salt," said Sierra. Thus, the two cheated and found the Honanas. "They look like weeds…"

"I bet they'll taste better than the Borzak…" remarked Salt, making a face.

"No way! Only Tatiana's sweets taste better than them!" protested Sierra.

"Really? I tried Tatiana's sweets this morning, and I almost fainted," said Salt.

"That's weird…I liked them," said Sierra. Then she remembered about the Hononas. "ORIN! GABRIEL! FOUND THE HONONAS!"

Gabriel and Orin walked to her. "Are those it?" asked Orin for confirmation.

Gabriel glanced at them. "Yeah. Good work…Oh, and this is Xeride. He's my friend."

Sierra and Salt looked at the floating Automaton near him. "Cool! Nice to meet you, Xeride!" they said together.

Orin grabbed some of the Hononas. "I'll meet you at the house."

"Bye Orin!" said Salt.

"Give me a minute…" Gabriel took out a radio and pressed a button. Ominous music started to play. "That's better."

Ryouga entered the scene, followed by Gedharm.

"We meet again, Sierra," said Ryouga.

"You might have knocked me out last time, but that won't happen again!" said Gedharm angrily. He apparently held grudges well.

"I have a friend this time!" Sierra pointed at Gabriel. "HA! We outnumber you!"

"You really assume that he's your friend?" said the cunning Gedharm. "He's a summon creature. Why would he side with you, a human? Reviving Goura is much more beneficial. Think about it—summon creatures are torn from their homes to serve humans. Where's the justice in it? Goura can send this one back to his home."

"Oh yeah? Then what about XERIDE?" asked Sierra.

"Uh…Xeride can go to his world too," said Gedharm. "Duh."

"Oh. I thought you forgot about him. Just checking," said Sierra.

"Can Goura really take me home?" asked Gabriel. His voice filled with hope, not that anyone could tell. Hope is abstract.

"Don't ask him _that!_" protested Sierra, arms flailing. "Of course he'll say yes! Oh, and Ryouga, how come you only hang out with people with long hair?"

"I do _not_," said Ryouga.

"Yes you do. I bet that's why you're with Gedharm," said Sierra.

"Hey, let's stick to the topic here," said Gabriel.

Sierra's eyes watered. "Did you just leave me because I have short hair?"

"This is irrelevant! Stop pestering me!" said Ryouga. He grew increasingly irritated.

Salt patted Sierra's arm comfortingly. "It's okay. Your hair will grow, Sierra."

"I like my hair short!" wailed Sierra. Tears fell down her face, because the female character in Summon Night _must_ cry in front of Ryouga. Must.

"Uh…" Ryouga looked uncomfortable. He turned into his true form, of a summon creature. "Tell you what. If you can beat me, I'll cut my hair."

"Promise?" asked Sierra.

"Yeah, yeah…" grumbled Ryouga.

Sierra immediately stopped crying. "That's the way! SCORE! You wrote that down, right Salt?"

"The wind will remember," said Salt.

"Even better!" said Sierra. "The wind is our witness!"

"Okay, back to reality…" interrupted Gabriel. "Will Goura really send me back?"

"You _can't_ side with them, Gabriel! It defies all logic," said Sierra.

"Hmm?"

"You have short hair, and Xeride doesn't have _any_ hair. How will you survive Ryouga's prestigious clique?" asked Sierra.

"How, how?" asked Salt.

"Good question," said Gabriel. "I guess Xeride can't be in it."

"That's too bad…" said Xeride, but overall it didn't really care.

"This isn't based on hair length!" said Gedharm. He was livid, and his eyes were aflame. In a figurative sense. "Stop messing around with our recruiting!"

"Well, you're doing it right in front of me," pointed out Sierra.

Salt yawned. "The wind is sleepy. Let's go home."

"Right. Bye Gabriel! Bye Ryouga!" said Sierra, waving. "I'll hold you to that fight, Ryouga!"

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"Hi Sierra. Orin just went to his room as soon as he got here and wouldn't talk. It's pretty weird. But I gave the Hononas to Dad," said Tatiana.

"Great…"

As soon as they were back at their workshop, Salt and Sierra decided to leave it for their daily walk. When Salt left, Sierra said, "Gabriel should be at the place where the Hononas were because he likes to smell things…And I bet Gedharm's combing his hair in some random place near where I found Ryouga yesterday. Who should I see today?"

_End of Day III_

_Talked with: Gedharm_

Sierra was right. Gedharm sat on a stump, combing his hair without a care in the world.

"Hey Gedharm!" said Sierra cheerfully, sitting next to him on the stump. Gedharm groaned.

"What are you doing here? No one is supposed to know where I go at night!" said Gedharm angrily.

Sierra shrugged. "I guessed. So…I'm guessing you're still mad about that time I threw the Cattan at you…"

"…That time? It was just yesterday!" said Gedharm. "My head still hurts, thanks to you."

"You should've eaten some of the Borzak then," said Sierra. "It cleared my headache."

"Borzak, hmm? I can summon those. I'll do it right now." Gedharm said a few words, and then the Borzak appeared.

"Great! So you just rip off a piece like this and ignore all the shrieks and cries that can wake the dead!" said Sierra. She tore a leaf and stuffed it into her mouth.

Gedharm followed suit. "You're right…They're really good for headaches. Wait—I see what you're doing! You're befriending me! It's part of some grand, demented scheme! I've had it! Leave me before I summon something else for you!"

Sierra stretched. "Honestly…I didn't even do anything!" She grabbed another piece of the Borzak and left. "Later Gedharm!"


	4. Chapter 4: Day IV

_Pointless Chatter: I was writing the end of chapter six today when my word office paperclip-ish assistant said: "You should never dive into murky waters." How random is that? Keep that in mind when reading this chapter, I guess._

Chapter Four: Day IV

It was morning. Sierra wanted to sleep in, but the room was too sunny. At times like these, she missed her dark, tomblike room.

Orin strolled into the workshop, managing to look casual and important at the same time. "Meet me at the waterfall as soon as you can, Sierra."

"Which one?" asked Sierra sleepily.

Orin groaned. "It's right next to our house! Just go down the closest flight of stairs."

"Right, whatever," said Sierra. She still felt groggy, and hardly noticed Orin leaving.

"Are you going to go, Sierra?" asked Salt.

"I don't want to. D'you think Orin's gonna notice if I don't show up, like, ever?" asked Sierra.

"The wind says that he will," Salt informed her.

Sierra shrugged. "'Kay, let's visit Blaire first."

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"Yo, Master Blaire! What's the haps?" asked Salt.

"Heh heh. Did the wind teach you that?" asked Sierra.

"I'm doing great, you know, for having a fever that drains the life out of you, keeps you dehydrated, and makes you feel like throwing up every two seconds," said Blaire sarcastically.

"You're mixing phrases, Master Blaire!" said Sierra. "Salt asked you 'What's happening,' not 'how are you'!"

Blaire coughed. "Oh, well you were going to ask me how I was anyway!"

"That was my second question! You're a genius, Master Blaire," said Salt.

"Yes, of course I am. Anyway, how will anything new happen to me if I'm always in bed?" asked Blaire.

"Why are you asking _us_?" asked Sierra stupidly. "We asked _you!_"

"Never mind," said Blaire. "I heard Orin's mad at you by the way."

"Really? How come?" asked Sierra.

Blaire grinned. "I heard him ranting while he was in his room. He was really loud. I'll reenact it for you! 'I CAN'T BELIEVE HER! SHE **ATE** THE BORZAK, WHEN THAT THING **BEAT** ME UP! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE SHE'S STRONGER THAN ME! I'LL BEAT **HER** UP TOMORROW AT THE WATERFALL AND THAT'LL SHOW HER!' and then Tatiana started to yell too. She was even louder: '**SHUT UP, ORIN, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!**' You didn't hear them?"

"Nope," answered Sierra.

"I didn't hear either," said Salt.

"I have such wonderful children," said Blaire fondly. "You should go to that waterfall now. Who knows, maybe you'll _bond_ more with Orin this time."

"Bonding!" repeated Salt.

"A'right! Bye Master Blaire!" Sierra waved.

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Sierra stopped at the workshop to disassemble and create her fist shapestone again. One would think that she'd remember to do this before she left her workshop in the first place.

Her rank went up. She went from 'Useless and pathetic Craftknight' to 'Just Horrible.' Sierra cheered. "_Oh yes! _This rank changing stuff is going so much faster than the actual game!" She paid no heed to the fact that her title was a lot worse than the game's.

"Sierra? I'm scared. You sound crazy," said Salt.

"Crazy like a Craftknight eating ice-cream with a fork!" replied Sierra.

"Now that's REALLY crazy!" said Salt.

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"Hiii Orin!" said Sierra cheerfully, forgetting what Blaire told her about the rant. Orin was busy staring at the sun (but not directly because that's dangerous!). The sun had moved higher on the horizon, meaning that it was nearing noon and Sierra took a long time.

"…Were my directions not good enough?" asked Orin cautiously.

"Oh, I didn't need them! Salt told me!" said Sierra enthusiastically. "So what do you need me for?"

"Remember when we used to spar all the time when we were little?" asked Orin.

"No," answered Sierra.

"Well, we did. You used to lose all the time and then you'd cry," explained Orin.

"You did, Sierra?" asked Salt, eyes wide.

"No I didn't!" argued Sierra.

"Let's spar right now. Just as a reminder of those times…And let's see who'll win," said Orin. "Rygel! We're going for a win!"

Sierra's eyes widened more than even Salt's. "Um, Orin? If I skipped to the crying, do I have to do anything?"

Orin made a face. "Just fight me! Let's go, Rygel!"

Orin closed in on Sierra, and aimed his drill at her face. Sierra was about to say something, and they were really close by…

Orin felt dizzy. He stepped back quickly and swayed.

"You okay, Orin?" asked Sierra.

"Nnng…You still smell like Borzak…" muttered Orin.

"Oh, I had some last night," said Sierra.

Orin backed further. "Please don't say anything."

"How come?" asked Sierra.

Orin neared the edge of the waterfall. "It's so strong…"

"Huh? What is?" asked Sierra.

"That sm—aah!" Orin grabbed the edge of the small cliff. Sierra realized what was happening, and gasped. She quickly leaned to grab him.

"Stay away!" hissed Orin.

"I'm going to help!" insisted Sierra.

Orin felt nauseous. He lifted his hand that was holding onto the cliff to cover his mouth, and then screamed as he fell down into the depths of…well, whatever was underneath. Possibly a river or some such body of water.

"Oh no...What kind of stupid village is built on top of a cliff anyway…" said Sierra, shocked from the ordeal.

"TRAITOR!" said Villager. Sierra was quickly mobbed and taken away for another town meeting.

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"How come we're here today?" asked the chief.

"Sierra called our village stupid!" said Villager.

"I _knew_ she was up to no good ever since she denied me a salad!" said Villager.

"Are you STILL going on about that? I gave you two salads, and you STILL won't shut up!" exclaimed Villager.

"You shut up!" retorted Villager.

"Grr…" said Villager.

"Sierra's plotting against us or she wouldn't call us stupid!" said Villager.

"She didn't call US stupid, she called the VILLAGE stupid!" said Villager.

"We're VILLAGERS! She called US stupid TOO, stupid!" shot back Villager.

"You _didn't!_" said Villager, shocked.

"I just _did! _You're _really_ stupid if you didn't hear!" said Villager.

"I want a salad!" whined Villager.

"Shut up!" said Villagers together to Villager.

"You're all stupid!" said Villager.

The Villagers started another fist fight. They came to silence as they realized the chief's droning voice.

"—And so, the banana famine ended, and we all had bananas, but no one has ever insulted each other since. In fact, it was one of the most peaceful times in the history of the village. So strong were people's desire for bananas! I was one of the most strong-hearted, if I do say so myself. The same girlfriend who gave me the topaz used to tell me that all the time. She used to say that I loved bananas more than her! Can you believe how sweet she is? Who else pays _that_ much attention to me? Oh…I wonder if she's dead right now. I would have dated her again. Too bad the whole topaz thing didn't work out. But maybe if she gave me ruby or sapphire…Those gems are rather valuable. Then again, I'd probably sell them. I remember selling a bunch of gems to this merchant that stalked me for two days to ask me how to get to Subterranean Bay! That was a nice place. Very sandy. I should visit someday, blah blah blah," said the chief.

"Umm…" said Sierra. "Uhh…Chief?"

"Yes, Sierra?" asked the Chief.

"Orin kinda…fell down the waterfall…" said Sierra.

There was a collective gasp. Then:

"She pushed him down the waterfall!" announced Villager.

"No way, she's too stupid for that!" said Villager.

"YOU'RE too stupid!" said Villager.

"You shut up!" said Villager.

"Are you in the mood for a snack? 'Cause I feel like giving you a knuckle sandwich!" threatened Villager.

"Can you make a salad to go with it?" asked Villager.

"No, stupid!" said Villager.

The Chief coughed. Everyone looked at him.

"Sorry, had something stuck in my throat," said the Chief.

Some of the Villagers nodded, and then they continued.

"How 'bout I push YOU down the waterfall too?" said Villager.

"Seriously, I _really_ want a salad!" said Villager.

"We'll push him down first," said Villager.

"No, we'll push YOU down first!" said Villager.

"It was _my_ idea," whined Villager.

"Who cares?" said Villager. "I don't like you!"

"Oh yeah? W-well, that's the meanest thing anyone's ever said to me!" Villager started to cry.

"Oh great, you made my sister cry! Apologize!" said Villager.

"No way!" said Villager.

Villager punched Villager. Villager developed a black eye.

"Oowww! That hurt!" Villager started to cry too.

There was an even bigger fist fight.

"Uh…" Sierra looked helplessly at Salt.

"What's happening?" asked Lynn, walking into the town meeting casually. "How come I wasn't invited?"

"It's Lynn! Let's mob her!" said Villager.

Lynn calmly glared at the villagers. They didn't advance on her like they were going to. Lynn was scary when she wanted to be. "Please explain this to me, Sierra."

"…Orin fell down the waterfall," said Sierra.

Lynn gasped. "And everyone's just standing here?"

There was a pause, and then an uproar as every Villager yelled "YEAH!"

The chief cheered them on. "That's the spirit!"

"What if he dies? We have to help him!" said Lynn.

"That's not going to happen," said Villager confidently.

"I'm not going to take that chance," said Lynn. "We don't even know if it's too late. Everyone, follow me."

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All the Villagers, Sierra, Salt, Lynn, and the chief stood at the waterfall somehow, even though there shouldn't have been enough space. Tatiana was taking care of Blaire, so she wasn't present.

"What should we do now?" asked the chief.

"I propose that someone should jump in there and get Orin. I think Sierra should do it because it's her," said Lynn.

"Yay, we have a plan!" said Salt.

"That looks scary…" said Sierra. She gulped nervously.

"We'll tie her to this rope. Tug the rope when you grab hold of Orin, Sierra," said Lynn. "We'll all stay up here where it's nice and dry. Here's a good luck kiss."

Sierra blushed, as Lynn kissed her and then tied her with the rope. Then Lynn smiled sadistically and pushed her. Salt waved as Sierra plunged down the cliff.

"I'm bored," said Villager.

"Let's go get some curry!" said Villager.

"And a salad!" said Villager.

"Great ideas!" agreed Villager.

The Villagers left the scene to mob a restaurant.

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The rope was extremely long, as if Lynn was ready for this. Sierra swam through the murky, greenish and algae-covered, fungal river. Every once in a while something unidentifiable would pass her by. Sierra shivered, disgusted. But at least she didn't smell like Borzak anymore.

"Orin? Orin? Or—ack! (cough, cough)" Sierra spat out a small insect summon creature that buzzed into her mouth. She was _never_ going to listen to one of Lynn's ideas again.

Sierra swam further. Suddenly, the rope felt looser around her waist. Then she didn't feel it much at all, and after a while she heard a splash. She pulled the rope close to her, and found a wet note attached to the other end. It said:

_Sierra,_

_We got hungry. Good luck getting Orin._

_Lynn_

"Oh…no…" Sierra's heart sank. And something was slithering around one of her legs. She didn't like this one bit.

"Orin! Where in the name of all that's as awesome as me are you!" called Sierra. She couldn't find anything red that would resemble Orin's hair…all she could see was green…and that wasn't an amazing color when it came to water.

"ORI—OW!" Whatever slithered around her leg bit her. Sierra shook her leg. It was bleeding, but the thing didn't let go. It was a summon creature, that she knew.

Sierra finally got angry. She grabbed her hammer, dived under the water despite the fungus and disturbing plant life, and slammed at the snake-like summon creature that bit her. The summon creature, shocked, let go and fell deeper in.

Sierra swam back up. "Orin? You're alive, riight?"

"…Orin?"

"Orin?"

"ANSWER ME, ORIN!"

"…"

"…"

"(cough) I gotta stop swallowing these things."

"…"

"ORIN!"

"Hey, that looks red! And spiky! And…oh shoot, that's not Orin. What the heck IS THAT?" Sierra swam quickly away from what she had mistaken as Orin's hair.

It was following her.

She remembered her Craftknight's senses and this time put on her fists and slammed it into a cliff wall. Whatever it was never lived to see the next day.

"Orin, if I don't see you soon, it's not gonna be pretty when I do!" threatened Sierra.

Just then, she spotted Orin floating on top of a bed of fuzzy purple stuff. She cheered for herself, and proceeded to pull Orin out. There was a tearing sound. Whatever it was, it sounded like Velcro. Sierra had difficulty staying up above the dirty water and holding on to the unconscious Orin.

Problem 2: How to get back into Cliff Village?

"I'm dooooomed!" concluded Sierra. Notice she didn't say 'we're' doomed.

Sierra didn't want to die like this. This wasn't even part of the actual game! With a sudden burst of adrenaline, she hoisted Orin over her shoulder. She was much tinier than him, so it looked funny. She punched holes in the cliff wall with her knuckles to make foot holds, and slowly made her way up the cliff while muttering how useless the Villagers and Lynn were.

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The Villagers and Lynn sneezed, but thankfully not into their curry. They kept eating like nothing happened.

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Sierra made it to the top of the waterfall. She felt a lot weaker now that her life wasn't threatened. She let Orin fall to the floor and then walked to the Entry Woods so that she could find the Daemon Edge. Soon she felt lightheaded and fainted.

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"Sierra?" Gabriel poked her with a stick. Who knew what diseases the fungi and other stuff that covered her transmitted? It's best he remained careful.

Sierra opened her eyes. "Huh? Where am I?"

"Entry Woods," said Gabriel immediately. "I don't know how long you've been here because I've only just came."

"Oh. Where's Salt?"

"Hi Sierra! The wind said I'd find you here!" said Salt, bloated from all the curry.

"Right there," answered Gabriel, smiling.

"Thanks Gabriel! You're so helpful!" said Sierra sincerely.

"Yeah….okay…." said Gabriel, giving her a strange look.

"Let's go to the Daemon Edge, Salt! About face and away!" said Sierra enthusiastically.

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Sierra carefully avoided the red triangle she saw in the cave that led to the Water Fortress. She found a Rare Medal on it though. It was very tricky, because the Rare Medal was in the exact center of the red triangle, as if mocking her. She had to lean awkwardly in order to get it and almost tripped into the triangle.

At any rate, the soaked and dirty Sierra found Borgrim's Cave close by. Tatiana stood there, amazed at the large summon creature that was right in front of her.

"Aaah!" screamed Tatiana, looking at it.

"Oh no! That thing's winning a staring contest with Tatiana! I have to help!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Please don't hurt it!" said a pink spirit, emerging from the ground. She immediately spotted Sierra and floated over to her. "Borgrim is harmless! You trust me, right?"

"Uh—"

"You do? Wonderful!" interrupted the spirit.

Borgrim growled.

The spirit turned to Tatiana. "Aww, he likes you, umm…"

"It's Tatiana." Tatiana didn't look scared any more, and smiled at Borgrim. "His name's Borgrim?"

"Yup!" said the spirit.

"Why are you pink?" asked Sierra suddenly. She had always wondered that.

"How rude, Sierra!" said Tatiana loudly. "You should ask what her name is first! Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

The spirit became tentative and started to fidget with her glasses. "N-no one's asked me why I'm pink before…"

"So there _is_ a reason!" said Sierra gleefully.

"Yes…but it's a secret…" whispered the spirit.

"Look what you're doing, Sierra! You're disturbing her!" yelled Tatiana, turning on Sierra.

"Okay, fine, no more pink questions. So what's your name, oh spirit?" asked Sierra.

"I'm Nina Nina," said Nina Nina.

"Nina Nina!" repeated Salt happily. "I like that name!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I like the name _Borgrim_ more!" said Sierra, as if it were an insult to Salt.

Nina Nina looked sad and literally drooped. "Borgrim's name is better…?"

Borgrim roared happily, causing Tatiana to jump in her place as she was still the closest to him.

"Yes! Borgrim's name offers variety, while we have to say Nina twice for you," explained Sierra.

"That makes NO sense," said Tatiana.

"You can just say one Nina if it's easier…" said Nina Nina gloomily.

"Nina Nina!" said Salt randomly.

"Hey wait, aren't you two supposed to be looking for the Daemon Edge?" cut in Tatiana. "And why do you look like you visited a swamp and just barely made it back, Sierra?"

"It's Orin's fault," said Sierra immediately. Then she sighed. "_Fine_, we'll look for the Daemon Edge…I really don't feel like it. And my leg hurts."

"I can heal your leg for you," said Salt.

"Why didn't you do that _before_?" asked Sierra. She gestured to her leg that was covered in dry blood and plant stuff.

"I have an idea!" said Nina Nina. "You can just wait till you reach the fortress that's on the other exit of this cave! You can rest there instead."

"Yay! I like that idea! I don't have to do anything!" said Salt happily.

"Only, I'm bad with directions, so I'll have to guide you there," continued Nina Nina.

"Really, Nina Nina?" asked Sierra, eyes glowing. "I'm bad with directions too! We have SO much in common!"

Nina Nina drooped again. "I always thought that I was unique…"

"Wait, if you two go there, what about me?" asked Tatiana. "I don't want to go with you…"

"You should go to the Wind Fortress then," said Sierra. "You'll probably get along with Rocky and that girl-whose-name-I-forgot."

"Are you just trying to get rid of me?" asked Tatiana suspiciously.

"Yes," said Sierra.

"Hmph! You didn't have to answer that! Fine, I'll go, because I think you didn't do a good job looking for the Daemon Edge that could've been in there," said Tatiana huffily.

"Is it safe for Tatiana to go by herself?" asked Salt.

"Yeah. One look at her from a summon creature and they'll run away," said Sierra.

"Tatiana has long hair," observed Salt.

Sierra gasped. "Oh crumb-cake! I didn't think of that, Salt! What if Ryouga and Gedharm recruit her?"

"Am I missing something?" asked Nina Nina. She looked increasingly depressed and felt left out.

Tatiana laughed. "Ryouga and Gedharm? Why would they make _me_ join them?"

"You better be careful, Tatiana," said Sierra. "Salt and I won't outnumber them if they get you."

"Whatever," said Tatiana, stifling a snort. "I'm going."

Tatiana went out of the entrance that Sierra took to get into Borgrim's cave. Nina Nina led Sierra and Salt out the other way.

"Follow me!" said Nina Nina. She stayed a good distance ahead of the other two.

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"I am sooo confused!" said Sierra. Her head was pounding. It felt like there were little people inside her head that beat against it with tiny sledgehammers simultaneously in order to get out. "Where the HECK are we?"

"We're almost there!" called Nina Nina from the top of a rocky wall. "We just have to go up here."

"How? We can't fly like you," said Sierra.

"O-oh. I knew that…" Nina Nina looked depressed again. "That's the only way I know of to get out of here…"

"The wind blows that way!" said Salt.

"There's no wind in the cave," pointed out Sierra.

"There's wind everywhere," said Salt, frowning.

"I don't feel anything!" argued Sierra.

"That's because it's calm here," said Salt.

"Please stop fighting!" interrupted Nina Nina. "It makes me feel depressed…"

Salt and Sierra ignored her.

"If the wind's REALLY here, then it should be able to tell you how to get out of here!" challenged Sierra.

"Okay, I'll prove it, Sierra. Shwooo—this way!" This time Salt led the way.

Nina Nina flailed her arms hopelessly. She wasn't even needed, which made her feel even sadder.

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"Let me go!" said Tatiana loudly and angrily at Ryouga and Gedharm, at the cave exit near the Water fortress.

"We aren't even _touching _you!" said Gedharm, equally loudly. "So shut up!"

"No! It's always been my dream to get captured so you SHUT UP and go along with it!" yelled Tatiana.

"What a freaky kid…" muttered Gedharm.

"WHAT did you just say?" asked Tatiana loudly.

"I said that you're a cheery kid," said Gedharm quickly.

"Oh, okay. I thought you said something else," admitted Tatiana.

"Nope," said Gedharm.

"Who's that guy next to you, Ryouga?" asked Tatiana.

"That's the Black Swordsman," answered Ryouga. "I hear someone coming. Or sloshing. Whatever it is, it's probably Sierra because only she can manage to sound like that. So pretend that the Black Swordsman beat you up, Tatiana."

Tatiana kneeled on the ground and tried to look as hurt as possible. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Everyone's in place? Gedharm, go away. You're not needed," ordered Ryouga.

Gedharm looked wounded. "How come?"

"Did you already forget your task? I told you _a million_ times that you need to go set up the Fortress for our party!" said Ryouga, annoyed.

"A party?" asked Tatiana curiously. "I better be invited!"

Ryouga scoffed. "Of course you are—oh, there's Sierra."

Sierra, Salt, and Nina Nina arrived.

"Tatiana's here too! Yay!" exclaimed Salt.

"I thought you were going to the Wind Fortress," said Sierra.

"I _was_, but these guys are much cooler!" said Tatiana.

Gedharm scurried away before Ryouga yelled at him again.

"Oh no! We came too late! Tatiana's already…" Sierra lowered her voice. "…At the dark side of the force…"

"The force!" echoed Salt.

"Oh yeah, and you're right Salt. There is wind in here," said Sierra.

"I'm bored…" said Nina Nina.

"Hmm…are you a spirit?" asked Ryouga.

"Yes," said Nina Nina. "My name is Nina Nina."

"Wonderful! We can always use a spirit," said Ryouga. "Why don't you join us?"

Tatiana stepped on Ryouga's foot, hard.

Ryouga yelped. "What was that for, you bra—Tatiana?"

Tatiana shrugged. "I felt like it."

"Weell, I _do_ have some free time," said Nina Nina thoughtfully.

"No! Don't give in!" protested Sierra. "You'll have to deal with TATIANA!"

"HEY! Why would you say THAT? Uh, actually, I mean…" Tatiana moaned, pretending to be in pain. "Heeelp, Sierra! That guy next to Ryouga beat me up and it really hurts…"

"Sure thing, Tatiana!" said Sierra heroically. She grabbed Salt and dashed near the Black Swordsman. The Black Swordsman jumped back.

"Don't touch me…" he said quietly.

"They all have long hair…" said Sierra. "I knew it, Ryouga! Now you can't deny it!"

"Oh shut up," said Ryouga. "So, spirit, what do you say to joining me?"

"Sure. No objections," said Nina Nina.

"Darn…we're outnumbered, Salt!" said Sierra. It was obvious, but of course she had to say it.

"I'll give you a break today, Sierra, but only because you look disgusting!" said Ryouga. "The Black Swordsman is the only one who's going to fight you today. He's a new recruit! Look at those wonderful long white strands of hair at the front of his mask! If we don't pay attention to the suspiciously short white hair on the back, he's perfect for Team Ryouga, no?"

"Team Ryouga? That sounds so STUPID! From now on, our group's going to be called Tatiana's Skilled!" said Tatiana.

"But…it was MY idea to name the team in the first place!" whined Ryouga.

"I don't care! I'm OBVIOUSLY the best one here!" argued Tatiana.

The Black Swordsman coughed. "You're kidding."

Nina Nina raised her hand. "Why are we here anyway?"

"We're blocking the exit to the Water Fortress," said Ryouga. It was another statement of the obvious.

"Well, _duh!_ Why are you doing that?" asked Sierra. "I need to go there!"

"Tough!" said Tatiana. "We _need_ the Fortress today."

"Yeah, because we're having a—OW! Why do you keep doing that!" Rouga spat angrily at Tatiana, who hid her right foot out of sight innocently.

"Ryouga, don't tell anything unnecessary to the enemy," said Tatiana calmly.

"Hey! Since when did I become your enemy?" asked Sierra.

"Since I joined Tatiana's Skilled. It's not like they'd be able to get anywhere without me," said Tatiana flatly.

Ryouga mimicked Tatiana behind her back. Nina Nina giggled.

"What are you laughing for?" Tatiana quickly turned around. Ryouga had a serious face on and Nina Nina was smiling pleasantly.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. Black Swordsman, take care of things from here and meet us at the Fortress when you're done. Let's go, Nina Nina, Ryouga." Tatiana swiftly turned around. Ryouga's face distorted. Tatiana just took his leadership away _and_ made a fool out of him! Nina Nina, however, looked cheerful for a change, and floated through the cave wall instead of using the door.

"I can't believe Tatiana!" remarked Sierra. "Who's going to make me desserts now…?"

The Black Swordsman coughed. "I'm still here."

"Oh yeah! I have to get past you somehow!" exclaimed Sierra. She put knuckles on and prepared for battle. "You ready, Salt?"

"Yeah…" replied Salt, a little muffled, since he was face down on the floor. He had tripped on his feet a while back—a trait unique to Salt.

The Black Swordsman cut at Sierra with his sword. She tried to dodge it but wasn't quick enough: A small red cut appeared on her cheek. "You'll pass me over my dead body."

"A-are you dying?" stuttered Sierra.

The Black Swordsman sighed. "It's an expression. You should worry more about yourself. I'll guard this exit, _I can do this!_"

The sudden burst of energy from the Black Swordsman made Sierra fly backwards.

"Sierra, are you okay?" asked Salt worriedly.

Sierra coughed up blood. "Can you try a Healing Spell, Salt?"

"Yay! I was asked to do a spell! This is the first time in—owww!" It was Salt's turn to fly. The Black Swordsman mocked them as he closed in.

"Aha!" As soon as the Black Swordsman moved, the exit was unguarded. Sierra grabbed Salt's hand and dragged him through.

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Tatiana, Gedharm, Ryouga, and Nina Nina sat at a table laden with food. Every once in a while, Gedharm's or Tatiana's stomach would grumble. Finally, Tatiana broke the silence.

"What kind of lame party is this? I'm hungry!" complained Tatiana.

"We're waiting for the Black Swordsman," said Ryouga.

"I say we forget about him and eat," proposed Gedharm.

Nina Nina looked miserable once again. "I wish I could eat again…"

"You a ghost or something?" asked Ryouga.

"No…a summon creature stole my body…" admitted Nina Nina, growing sadder with every word.

"You must really suck to get your body stolen," put in Gedharm.

Tatiana's Skilled made some more small chatter that did nothing to improve Nina Nina's mood to pass the time.

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Sierra kept on dashing. The Black Swordsman wouldn't give up though, and put in all his force to ram her and her guardian beast. With the amazing aim he possessed, he slammed her into the teleporter. Then he jumped on the teleporter to deactivate it. Satisfied with his work, he strolled into the Water Fortress triumphantly.

"I wasn't gone _that_ long…" He murmured as Tatiana and Gedharm had fallen asleep and Ryouga was playing with his hair. Nina Nina kept flowing through the others at the table.

But soon, the party started. There was much food and laughter, and even a longwinded speech from Tatiana, who had decided to stay along with the rest of Tatiana's Skilled as a permanent member. Which basically meant that she wasn't going to come home for a really long time. It's still unknown where Ryouga, Gedharm, and even the Black Swordsman stay at night, so Tatiana joined the mystery.

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Sierra yawned. She was back at her workshop after being so brusquely treated by the Black Swordsman. Who needed Tatiana's group anyway? She wondered what they were doing, and even told Blaire not to expect Tatiana for a really long time. Blaire didn't really care though. He mentioned that Tatiana's food was to die for, literally, so he didn't miss her presence. Sierra didn't understand what he meant by that.

She wasn't sure where Orin had gotten to either.

"I'm going for a walk. There's a lot to talk with the wind about today!" said Salt cheerfully. He left.

"Me too…Hmm…Nina Nina should be at the exit of the cave leading to the Water Fortress…Borgrim'll be in Borgrim's cave. Tatiana's in an area of the Entry Forest that'll be suspiciously rid of all summon creatures because of how frightening she is. Lyn's possibly either at a curry restaurant or Goura's Gate for no particular reason. And Xeride's probably still at the Hononas. I have a feeling Gabriel's not with him today. Where should I walk this time…" said Sierra thoughtfully.

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_End of Day IV_

_Talked with: Xeride_

"I was right! You _are_ all by yourself, Xeride!" said Sierra, spotting Xeride. Xeride tried to hide behind something, but it wasn't quick enough.

"Yes…Gabriel was too tired tonight so he went straight to sleep," said Xeride.

"Oh okay. I didn't see Gabriel at all today," said Sierra. "What was he doing?"

There was a moment of silence. "You would have to ask Gabriel. I wasn't with him today."

"I thought you always were! That's kinda weird," commented Sierra. "(Oooh, it is SO going to slip!)"

"I was rebooting today, so I didn't stick around him," explained Xeride. "It takes a long time."

"Oh…(That sounds right..) I think you should hang around with Salt and me more often! You know, so that we can defeat Ryouga and stuff!" said Sierra.

"That isn't a bad idea. I'll ask Gabriel to do that too," said Xeride.

"Sounds good! So…do you know who the Black Swordsman is?" asked Sierra.

"A…swordsman who wears black?" asked Xeride.

"AHA! You DO know who he is!" said Sierra. "I caught you now, Xeride!"

"…Processing…Error…The human identified as Sierra has an insufficient IQ that is fatal to my system…Must reboot…again…" said Xeride. It stopped floating and landed on the grass.

"Huh?" Sierra stared at it. "What does that mean?"

"0.2362 percent completed. Please stand by," said Xeride.

"I didn't do it!" said Sierra, alarmed. "I didn't break Xeride!" She ran out of the clearing and back to her workshop. That night she had a troubled sleep.


	5. Chapter 5: Day V

"It's never too late to learn to play the piano." –Word Office paperclip assistant

(I'm really wondering why it says these random things)

_Chatter with a point: I really need help. I can't write the eighth chapter unless someone tells me the names of the summoners at Glacier Gorge, the name of the male summoner (you know, the one you can pick the gender of?), and his guardian beast's name. And unless someone does it soon, there will only be a one chapter update next week. (This story's almost done. I'm thinking...the week after next week I'll post the last chapter)_

_Also, you know the kids at the Wind Fortress? I know Rocky's name, but I can't recall the girl's. They're not very important, but just in case I need them for the final chapter...you never know..._

_And for the hot springs place, it's Kuheii and Kohina right?_

_One more thing. Does anyone have an idea who Sierra should have her final ending with? Day Ten depends on it, and so does the Epilogue. (Probably. Not sure about the Epilogue)_

**Reviews:**

_Because Phreno's totally doing this on purpose. Haha. Actually she definitely deserves this whole section to herself! GIVE IT UP FOR PHRENO! (Nonexistant Crowd cheers)_

_Hey, I might have something against using muses, but I CAN have my own Nonexistant Crowd. In CAPS. Beware!_

_To Phreno (chapter 3 Review): HAHA! I thought the same thing about Edgar! Except...wow. I bet Edgar got that stuff from Orin in the first place...I was actually going to make your theory a part of a chapter and dedicate the whole thing to you. Oh wow, that's totally the plan for Chapter 10 now! YAY, I have a plan! And pffft, I disagree with your newspaper review "_author of some other far less funny SN:SS fanfic" _Shyeah right! You're the ONLY one I know who could pull off Pratty's nasty paperwork and Ureksa-in-a-bar. Ha. That sounds like a product. Ureksa-in-a-bar. I'll shut up now. Till my chapter 4 reply. Heh. Thanks for your review, see ya, and cheers!_

_To Phreno (chapter 4 Review): OMC, what are the chances of replying twice in a row like this? (cackle) Y'know, I never watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That's pretty cool._

_...You'll probably want to strangle Tatiana in chapter 7 then. I was mad at her during the game too, but because I wanted her to have a romance with Rocky! I loved when she was like "I want to kiss someone I really like" or whatever. Heh, ouch. Poor Rocky. They would've had an abusive relationship._

_I have a headache...Thanks for your review, see ya, and cheers! 'Cuz after this I'm gonna eat lunch. It's almost 3:30 P.M. I should've thought this out better..._

ONWARDS!

Chapter Five: Day V

It was another day in Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. Sierra had to admit that it wasn't that boring being _in_ it than playing the actual game. She started to go up the stairs and out of her workshop. Salt followed her, and they accidentally ran into Orin.

Orin remained standing, while Salt and Sierra fell to the floor. "Excuse you."

"Orin! How are you?" asked Sierra. She herself had spent a long time last night washing herself off since she couldn't sleep anyway.

"I'm fine. Listen…" Orin shuffled his feet embarrassedly. "Sorry I was making such a big deal about how you ate the Borzak. I heard that you helped me out of the bottom of the waterfall."

"No problem!" exclaimed Sierra.

"And…did something new happen? I feel like I missed a lot," admitted Orin.

"Not much," said Sierra, waving her hand. "I just met a spirit thing yesterday and Tatiana joined Ryouga's group and became its new leader."

"Tatiana WHAT?" yelled Orin.

"She joined Ryouga's group," repeated Salt. "Now it's Tatiana's Skilled!"

Orin frowned. He had a feeling something was up, and now it was confirmed. "How did Ryouga convince her to do that…?"

"I think she wanted to…" said Sierra.

"So she's just going to help revive Goura so that it'll _kill us all_?" asked Orin angrily.

"Pretty much, yeah," said Sierra.

"How could she! Now _I'll_ have to stay here to take care of Dad!" groaned Orin.

"No one has to take care of me!" said a voice. Blaire walked down the stairs, having eavesdropped on their conversation for no particular reason.

"Really dad?" asked Orin hopefully.

"Would I lie to you, son?" asked Blaire, but his expression seemed to tell otherwise.

"Uh…_Yeah_," answered Orin.

Blaire looked indignant. He glared his famous glare, which normally would take half of a gameboy advance SP system. "Name one time I did!"

"There was that time when Tatiana made breakfast for us and you pretended to taste it and told me that you enjoyed it…and so I took a big bite of it and had an upset stomach for weeks!" said Orin loudly.

Blaire grinned. "You have to admit it was pretty funny. Sierra was there too, and _she_ didn't do the same thing!"

"That's because she saw me almost dying!" protested Orin.

"Anyway…you don't have to take care of me," insisted Blaire. "You just have to wait on me hand and foot! Now get me some lemonade, son!...Why didn't I name you servant again? Oh yeah…your mother absolutely refused…shame…"

Orin shot an angry glare in Sierra's direction. "Coming right up dad…I'm only doing this because you're sick. Just wait till you get better—I'll get you back for this!"

"Quiet, you! I asked you for a lemonade, not a whole darn conversation!" snapped Blaire.

"I'm going to the Water Fortress now to get that Daemon Edge! Have fun Orin! Bye Master Blaire!" said Sierra. She quickly left before Orin could drag her back in, which he was extremely liable to do.

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Sierra trudged back to the teleporter that the Black Swordsman threw her at, and activated it once more. Then she entered the Water Fortress, which was completely disheveled. There were decorations all over the place, and plates and other eating utensils scattered. Gedharm soon came out of the backroom, and walked towards Sierra.

"We meet again, Sierra," said Gedharm menacingly.

"I can't believe you guys! How come _I_ couldn't come to the party?" asked Sierra.

"You would trash it, that's why! And it was for Tatiana's Skilled members only," said Gedharm snobbishly. "It was a lot of fun…I summoned up a bunch of things, we danced to the Black Swordsman's radio…we sang karaoke…good times, good times!"

"Whatever," said Sierra, put out. "I don't care anyway!"

"Yes you do!" said Gedharm gleefully. "I have to get back to the others, so why don't you fight this thing to keep you busy? Toodles!" A summon creature entered the room as well, from the back of the Fortress. Then Gedharm left.

"Aww…I'm getting tired of all these fights!" complained Sierra.

"It's for the Daemon Edge and Goura!" said Salt, reminding her of their mission. "Because the sword is shiny and Goura is shiner!"

"Oooh," squealed Sierra in delight. "That means we can mob Goura when he's revived! Shiny!"

"Oh…I thought we were stopping Goura from getting revived…" said Salt, confused.

Sierra shrugged. "We are, but it'll happen anyway!...Probably. You know what's even more shiny than Goura?"

"Umm…Gabriel's radio?" guessed Salt.

"Nope! Ryouga's hair!" said Sierra.

"Ooh! The wind says that we should mob Ryouga the next time we see him!" said Salt excitedly.

"I love the way you think! I never would've thought of that!" said Sierra.

The neglected summon creature lunged at Sierra after waiting so long for something to happen. Sierra wasn't paying attention and received the blow at full force.

"Oow! How rude!" exclaimed Sierra. "Did you just see that, Salt? Can you _believe_ this thing's manners?"

"No, Sierra. It's just…shocking!" agreed Salt.

The summon creature hit Sierra again. She cried out in pain, because she was still ignoring it.

"We have to fight back, Sierra!" said Salt.

"Oh, all right…" Sierra put her knuckles and whacked the summon creature. It flew backwards. She waited till it got back again and then whacked it some more. When it disintegrated to little more than black eyes, Sierra left it to explore the Water Fortress

"I don't see the Daemon Edge…" said Sierra finally, after about two minutes of searching.

"The wind says it's not here," said Salt. "It says that we should go deeper into the forest where there's another fortress."

"But everything's deeper in the forest!" wailed Sierra.

"The wind also says that we'll meet someone new."

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A woman who looked suspiciously like Nina Nina except that she had a solid body and wasn't pink stood in front of the next fortress: The Thunder Fortress. In caps.

"Who're you?" asked the woman lazily.

"I'm Sierra and this is Salt," said Sierra. "And you're Passeau."

"Yup! Hey…Ryouga told me about you, didn't he? I'm a member of Tatiana's Skilled you know. What else did Ryouga say? He loves me right?"

"Umm…he never spoke about you to me, or at all really," said Sierra.

"What do I have to _do_ to get that man to notice me!" ranted Passeau. "I _even_ stole the body of the geekiest girl that I could find! What _else_ do I have to do? Honestly!"

"Maybe he likes Nina Nina better than you…" said Sierra.

Passeau snapped hers, or rather, Nina Nina's fingers. "You might be on to something there! He just added her to our group without even thinking about it! He wouldn't even consider me if I hadn't stolen her body! I _knew_ that he was into geeky girls…"

"So…what are you going to do about it?" asked Sierra curiously.

"You know what! I'm going to let you in this Thunder Fortress just to get back to Ryouga! And then I'm going to make a Voodoo doll of Nina Nina!"

"Does that work on spirits?" asked Salt.

Passeau shrugged. "It'll do wonders for my mentality! And then, I'm going to seduce Ryouga! _Woo hoo! _I've got a plan! Later, losers!"

Passeau happily skipped out of sight and got attacked by a random summon creature.

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An automaton that looked like Xeride occupied the first room of the Thunder Fortress. "Greetings, human. And green whatever-it-is."

"I'm a child of the wind!" said Salt.

The automaton floated uncomfortably close to Sierra, and before she could react, it latched itself to her chest and pulled at the blue necklace. It broke the clasp.

"Yay! I'm getting mugged!" exclaimed Sierra stupidly.

"…Scanning…The human before me has a 95 percent chance of being a Sharp Chopper. Must test this…Calling Clock Knight…" A hand came out of a compartment of the floating robot. The hand clutched a walkie talkie type thing. "Come in, Clock Knight."

There was a tick as the Clock Knight responded.

"Yes, I know what time it is," answered the automaton.

The Clock Knight tocked.

"So what if you're still recharging? We have a possible Sharp Chopper here!" said the robot in a possibly annoyed mechanical voice.

Then there was a clanking as the Clock Knight entered. The automaton probably could've floated into the next room to get it but it was much too lazy.

"Here's your necklace back," said the automaton. "Have fun."

"Oh wait…I have to fight that? But…it tells time! This is like, inhumane!" exclaimed Sierra.

The automaton looked indifferent. "That's why we're robots. Tough."

"Hey, I feel different…You suck at mugging, you know that? Aaaaaahhh, this feels so relaxing…wait a sec, why are you massaging my shoulders anyway, Salt?" asked Sierra.

"You looked tense," explained Salt.

"Oh. Well thanks. Stop that though, 'cause now I feel like there's power coming from…aaaah!" This time Sierra sounded more like she was concentrating, which was a first. But she really wasn't, because power exploded from her, and she had entered…

Beta Shift Mode.

Cool music started again. The automaton had a built-in radio feature.

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"Fight, fight, fight!" cheered Salt from the side. The automaton, identified as Bruno or so he told Salt, floated near Salt.

Sierra punched the Clock Knight. One of the hands on its clock face, the hour hand, moved back.

Salt gasped. "The time changed!"

"What an unexpected turn of events," droned Bruno.

The Clock Knight punched Sierra back. She laughed at it, because she hardly felt a thing. Then it punched her harder, which made her fall back.

"The Clock Night just hustled!" commented Salt.

"Salt! Why aren't you helping me?" asked Sierra.

"I never help," pointed out Salt.

Sierra groaned. She punched the Clock Night again and jumped behind it to dodge its attack. Before it could turn around, she started to punch it madly, and when it _did_ manage to turn around, she just jumped over it again.

Bruno made a gasping sound. "She's _winning!_"

"Yaaay, Sierra!" exclaimed Salt. "From the S to the I to the E to the…umm…"

Sierra punched the Clock Knight once more. It flopped over, defeated.

"OH YEAH! I just totally rock out loud!" yelled Sierra triumphantly.

"Self-destructing…5…4…" started the Clock Knight.

"Uh oh!" Bruno quickly transcripted next to Sierra. "LET'S GO!"

It dragged Sierra and Salt out of the Fortress. Seconds later, the whole Fortress blew up.

It was no longer the Thunder Fortress.

It was no longer Bruno's home.

Now it was…

The Thunder Fortress Ruins.

Seriously, if one teleported using the green teleporter, and wished to go to the Thunder Fortress using the menu on a gameboy advance screen of places to go, it would say 'Thunder Fortress Ruins' instead of simply 'Thunder Fortress.'

Bruno stared at the remains of his home. After a few moments of silence, one of the compartments on the automaton opened and confetti burst out. "Finally! I wanted to get rid of my roommate for years! He was such a drag."

"What was so bad about him?" asked Salt.

"He tells the time. _Constantly_. You might not understand him, but I do. He doesn't _shut up_," said Bruno.

"Oh," said Sierra indifferently. "Do you happen to know about a really REALLY shiny sword 'round 'bout these parts?"

"Negative. Actually I'm lying. But it might be in the Fire Fortress beyond here! Actually that's a lie too. But you should check it out anyway," said Bruno.

"Got ya!" said Sierra enthusiastically. "Hi ho and 'way we go!"

"'Tis!" exclaimed Salt, adding to their random outbursts of phrases.

"Cheerio!" said Sierra.

"Cheers!" said Salt.

"Salmonella!" said Bruno, who didn't want to be left out.

"…What's that?" asked Sierra.

"Never mind…" Bruno sighed. "What're you still doing here? Go to the Fortress!"

"A'right, we're on it! Let's go, Salt!" said Sierra.

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Halfway to the Fire Fortress, Tatiana appeared riding on Ryouga's shoulders. "No, go this way! _This_ way! How many times do I have to tell you? We won't find the ingredients for my special desserts if you go the WRONG WAY."

Ryouga gritted his teeth. "Will you just SHUT UP? I'm getting tired of you, Tatiana!"

"Well, I just happen to be the leader and your boss, dear Ryouga," said Tatiana in a poisonous voice. "So you do what I say, or else."

"Or else what? Tell me, brat," said Ryouga.

Tatiana yanked on a strand of Ryouga's hair. He didn't make a sound. "I've got everyone else in my group pretty much under my thumb. You _don't_ want me to tell Passeau that you want to marry her, do you?"

Ryouga was appalled. "I don't want to marry her. Listen, I can throw you off and kill you in a heartbeat. You're in no position to threaten me, let alone be my boss."

"Oh really? Do you think I'm that stupid?" Tatiana yanked on Ryouga's hair harder. "HEEEELP! RYOUGA'S HURTING ME!"

Gedharm jumped out from under a bush. Yes, he's under it. He frantically tugged poison ivy off of his skin. Giving up, he stood next to Ryouga and lifted Tatiana from his shoulders and onto the floor. Then he thrashed Ryouga over the head. "Don't get on Tatiana's bad side! What is wrong with you?"

"Hi guys!" said Sierra cheerfully, walking in on the moment.

"Oh, it's Sierra," said Tatiana. "GET HER, RYOUGA! And then I'll forgive you."

Ryouga snarled. "Shut up, Tatiana."

"Oooooh," said Salt.

"Ownage!" commented Sierra.

"I don't want to fight you, Sierra. Tell me, did you find the daemon edge yet?" said Ryouga.

"No luck whatsoever," said Sierra. "But I did manage to transform into a nifty stronger me!"

"Who says nifty anymore?" said Gedharm.

"Show me…" said Ryouga. "So that I can gloat and say that I'm still the strong one…"

"You're kidding, Ryouga," scoffed Tatiana. "We had a tournament yesterday, remember? And I was the champion…you lost."

"That's why we're all scared of her," explained Gedharm, noticing Salt's confused face. He scratched his arm where the poison ivy had touched before.

Ryouga pushed Sierra aside. "(_She's stronger than Lynn!)"_ He whispered.

Sierra's eyes widened. "(So she's pushing you guys around?)"

Ryouga glared but nodded.

"Ooh, what's this?" said Gedharm gleefully. "Look how close the two are, Tatiana!"

"You're right, Gedharm. You two should just hurry up and kiss," said Tatiana. She cackled with Gedharm.

Ryouga blushed faintly. "That monster…" Then he turned to his summon creature form and faced Tatiana. "I don't like Sierra at all. What makes you think I do?"

"Just how close you two were," said Tatiana impishly. "Why'd you change?"

"Felt like it," grunted Ryouga. "It makes me feel special."

"That's the way," said Tatiana approvingly. "Ryouga, piggy back ride! We need to finish gathering ingredients. You're on your own for now, Sierra. But mark my words! We WILL rock you! I mean…STALK you. Same thing…" The trio left.

"The wind says that Tatiana's scary," commented Salt.

"She is…" agreed Sierra. "But she does cook good!"

"…(Belch)."

"Ew, Salt! Not on my shoes!"

"Sorry, Sierra."

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By the time they reached the Fire Fortress, it was starting to get dark. After a quick search and no Daemon Edge, Salt and Sierra teleported back to the Entry Woods and went home to their workshop where Orin was hiding away from Blaire. They kicked him out and then went for a walk.

"I only met Passeau today…And I bet she's skulking next to Borgrim's cave! I'm not sure where Bruno is, but he might still be at the Ruins. Where should I go today…"

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_End of Day V_

_Talked with: Passeau_

"Gehehehehe," laughed Passeau evilly. "Bwohohohoho!"

"Hi Passeau!" greeted Sierra.

"Gah!" Passeau jumped, having not noticed Sierra. "Oh good, you're not Nina Nina."

"What about Nina Nina?" asked Sierra.

"Oh, not much…Just that, since I've traveled all over, I learned the wonderful art of voodoo! What do you think of my Nina Nina doll?" asked Passeau, holding up a…well, there wasn't a name for it, really. It was just _that_ hideous.

"It's so amazingly artistic AND BEAUTIFUL!" said Sierra, falling in love with it at first sight. "Now what?"

"Now we _turn it into a pin cushion! _Rahahahahaha!" laughed Passeau. She jabbed the doll with her glasses. There was a shriek from Borgrim's cave.

"Cool! Do it again!" said Sierra excitedly.

"Sure!" Passeau jabbed the doll again with the glasses. The agonized cry in Borgrim's cave was louder.

"Woow," breathed Sierra. "Ryouga'll fall in love with you for sure, Passeau."

"You better believe it! Thanks for watching, Sierra," said Passeau, jabbing the doll once again.

Another scream.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Then Sierra rephrased her sentence. "Or…the village!"

A tree fell down on a random Villager's house in Cliff Village. Neither of the two paid it any mind, though it was very loud.

Another shriek.

"This is TOO fun!" said Passeau, grinning from ear to ear. "Alright, I need my beauty sleep if I'm going to get Ryouga tomorrow." She dropped to the floor and immediately fell to sleep.

Sierra took Passeau's glasses and hit the doll once more, and then she too left.

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Meanwhile…

"Wasn't it so sweet of Ryouga to make me this clone thing?" said Nina Nina to Borgrim. She pointed a ghostly finger at an exact replica of herself, except it was solid. Actually it looked like Passeau, who had Nina Nina's body. "It's too bad that it only knows how to scream now…I love how it activates every time I go through it!"

Nina Nina went through her clone just to demonstrate. The clone screamed.

It just so happened that Passeau jabbed her Nina Nina doll with her glasses every time Nina Nina went through the clone.

"I love this thing! Ryouga is so _sweet_!" exclaimed Nina Nina.


	6. Chapter 6: Day VI

_Chatter without a Point: Additional Disclaimer--I don't own the idea for nasal strips. Okay, time to tell a story. Last week, I found out there was a tennis game for Wii, and I wanted to get it (and a Wii!) REAL BAD. I accidentally scratched my brother while I was grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him and basically I was just obsessing. I found out why he looked scared though. I scratched myself just to see how hard I was grabbing him, and it kinda hurt even through the clothes. I'm over it now though. 'Cuz my new mission is to go to a tennis camp this summer! And buy Mario Power Tennis for my GBA instead of having it on my computer! OH YEAH!_

_Read on, scum! Uh. Sorry. I felt like saying that. It was really tempting..._

Chapter Six: Day VI

It was another day to look for the ever lovin' Daemon Edge. Or at least, Daemon Edges, for Sierra wasn't fooled by the use of the singular form for the proper noun that everyone from Cliff Village counting Gedharm used.

She didn't have a lead anymore because there wasn't anything in the Fortresses and one of them blew up. If it were the game, she would be going to the Thunder Fortress except that the fact that it didn't exist anymore presented a problem. The whole story was warped since she entered anyway, so she wasn't sure if she should trust her instincts.

"'Morning Orin," said Sierra, wide awake for once. Orin put a finger on his mouth and had an expression that clearly stated 'Shut up for a minute.'

Sierra waited, busying herself by looking for some kind of breakfast. Ever since Tatiana left, food was scarce.

Then it came. There was a crash and a BOOM. Blaire yelled from the second floor, "_Oooriiin! What did you do?"_

"What are you talking about?" yelled Orin from the first floor….innocently.

Blaire came down the stairs angrily. There were bits of confetti stuck in his hair and a hammer in hand.

"What's up, Master Blaire?" asked Sierra. "Did you have a party?"

Blaire drew in his breath sharply. "No, I did not."

"Dad, you look ridiculous. Why didn't you stay in bed?" said Orin.

Blaire held up a flattened metal spider. Who knows how he confused that with a real one.

"I don't get it," said Salt.

Blaire forced himself to be calm. "There was a rope hanging from the ceiling that said 'Pull Me.' Of course when you see something like that, it's only polite to do it…"

"How's that polite?" interrupted Orin. "If you're the only one there?"

Blaire cast his eyes heavenward. "Fine. I was curious, okay? Confetti came out, and the next thing I knew this fake spider fell onto my bed. Then I took my hammer…and you know the rest."

"Why are you blaming me?" asked Orin. "It was probably Sierra or even Salt."

Blaire paced back and forth in front of the three suspects. "I'll just ask a few questions…Sierra! Where were you in between the time I was in bed to this morning?"

"But you were in bed the whole day," pointed out Sierra.

"Wrong answer!" bellowed Blaire. "It was _you_ wasn't it?"

"No! I was sleeping too!" said Sierra hastily.

"_Likely_ answer," said Blaire.

Salt glanced at Orin's gleeful expression. "What are you going to do, Master Blaire?"

"I'm going to make Orin pay for Sierra's little trick!" said Blaire decisively. "Make my bed, Orin."

"I'm meeting someone today, actually," said Orin.

Blaire gasped. "You actually _do_ things?"

Orin glared. "Are you trying to say something, dad?"

"Not trying, no," said Blaire.

"Ugh. I'm leaving now!" Orin shot another angry glance at Blaire and left.

"Sooo," said Sierra.

"Sierra, do you know who Orin's meeting?" asked Blaire.

"No…" said Sierra.

Blaire gave his famous glare. "I'm giving you a mission for today! Go stalk Orin!"

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Sierra.

"You too, Salt!"

"Yes Master Blaire!"

"Okay, get to it before Orin gets very far! And tell me as soon as you find out! Forward march!" Then Blaire went upstairs and crawled back into bed.

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Sierra and Salt wore white bed sheets over their heads and poked eye holes in for them to see through. Then they tailed Orin. After about two minutes, Orin got annoyed and turned around.

"And what are you two supposed to be exactly?" asked Orin, irritated.

"We're haunting you!" said Salt's voice from under his sheet.

"We're ghosts," added Sierra.

Orin rolled his eyes. "Sierra…I should've known. Well stop following me, okay? You two are embarrassing."

Orin started to walk again, and Sierra and Salt continued to follow him. He stopped once more. "Don't you have anything to do today?"

"Yes," said Sierra.

"So go do it!" bellowed Orin.

"Just pretend we aren't here," said Sierra.

"That's a _tad_ hard to do!" Orin glared at the walking sheets. Villagers stared at them.

Sierra and Salt were persistent. Orin couldn't lose them without knocking them out, but Sierra saved his life yesterday so he decided not to do that. At any rate, the three found themselves at the curry restaurant that hadn't made an appearance in the actual game (How suspicious!).

"So you've come…" said a high pitched voice. It was Tatiana on Gedharm's shoulders, with a long trench coat covering them. She wore a pointy hat to cover her hair that she usually put up in buns. Her face was done in too much makeup, given by Passeau which was stolen from Nina Nina who "borrowed" it from another summoner.

"Yeah. Remember what we were talking about before, Ms…?" asked Orin.

"Uh, Ta—Tanya. I'm Tanya," said Tatiana. "And you?"

"Orin."

"I thought you were coming alone! What's with the ghosts?" asked Tatiana.

"Whooooo," said Salt.

"Boo!" said Sierra.

Tatiana shrieked. "I _hate_ ghosts! Get rid of them!"

"I can't," said Orin. "They won't leave me."

"_Fine_. Let's just finish our transaction quickly," said Tatiana bitterly. She stomped on Gedharm's head, who moaned in pain loudly. "Uh, that was my stomach." Gedharm started to walk towards a table, and put the suitcase they were carrying on it. "Give me the Beast Crest first."

"Here. I got it from fishing, but I think it's rather useless," said Orin, tossing the item to 'Tanya.'

Salt tripped on his sheet and fell. He grabbed the trench coat to steady himself, but instead the trench coat was pulled off. Salt's head was also revealed. "Oops…"

Gedharm and Tatiana stood, shocked. Then Tatiana took off her pointy hat and threw it on the ground. "Darn it! And I was so CLOSE too! If only Gab—the Black Swordsman could get his OWN stupid Beast Crest! Honestly, why did he have to DROP his?"

"You're not Tanya!" exclaimed Orin.

"No, but I have the Beast Crest and you don't!" Tatiana stuck her tongue at him.

"I told you I don't want it…" said Orin.

Tatiana ignored him. "I also own this restaurant! I'm so much more awesome than all of you!" She hopped down to the floor. "Oh wait, I just realized something. If that's Salt…"

"Then that's Sierra," finished Gedharm. Sierra reluctantly pulled off her sheet.

"So you're not ghosts! Oooooh, that makes me SO mad! How could you trick me?" Tatiana stomped on the floor angrily.

"It's even worse that they know where you live now," pointed out Gedharm.

"Oh yeah. This sucks," said Tatiana.

"At least give me my end of the deal, Tatiana," said Orin.

"Those rocks you wanted? They're in the suitcase," said Tatiana.

Orin grinned. "Thanks! Alright, I've got to go paint these so I can pass 'em off as Rare Medals to the freak that always stands behind that staircase."

"Why would you do that?" asked Sierra.

"He gives me cool things you know. Last time he gave me an Eerie Mask that scared dad for two weeks!" said Blaire.

Tatiana chuckled. "Oh, I remember that."

"He promised me that he'd give me a Wrench this time," said Orin. "They're all the rage in weaponry now as you guys know."

"Eh, who needs wrenches," said Tatiana. "Ryouga's been nagging me for one since this morning though. Do you think you can get me one too?"

"Sorry, sis. They cost a lot of rare medals. I can't waste any more time now." Orin took the suitcase and left.

"Let's go, Gedharm," said Tatiana. "Ryouga can get his own stinkin' wrench."

"Yeah, and we have to give the Black Swordsman his Beast Crest," added Gedharm.

"Right. Thanks for reminding me. Oh, and Sierra, Salt? Stop by sometime at my restaurant. There's a lunch special tomorrow that you might be interested in." Tatiana then dragged Gedharm out.

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"Hello again, Sierra," said Bruno, at the Ruins. "I've been waiting for you."

"Hu-huh? That sounds creepy," stuttered Sierra.

"Yeah well, I'm a creepy robot thing," said Bruno. "Anyway, I need your help."

"The wind doesn't like this. The wind says that this'll be a lot of work," said Salt.

"I hate work…" moaned Sierra.

"Deal with it! After the Clock Knight blew up, my Transcript feature was affected and now it doesn't work!" A hand came out of one of Bruno's compartments, and it shook a fist at the Ruins of the building, meant for the Clock Knight. "He had to bother me even after self-destructing! Actually, I'm lying. See, the Summonite Gems inside me give me the energy to transcript, and the energy ran out. I'm due for my fifty-year Summonite Gem change right now. So will you get me four of them? One of the gems is in the backroom of this fortress. Oh wait, that blew up. Well then, you're on your own, kid."

"Where are we going to find Summonite Gems…? Does the wind know, Salt?" asked Sierra.

"I'll ask. Tweeeet! The wind says to look around the ruins," said Salt.

"Been there, done that," said Bruno. "I found this piece of paper. I guess it's flame-proof or something. You can have it; I was too lazy to scan its contents." Another of Bruno's compartments opened. Sierra reached in and took it.

_To the next Sharp Chopper,_

_I am your father._

_I'm glad that's out of the way._

_At any rate, I hope you get this in time. I left it in Bruno's care, which was probably a really bad idea. Knowing him, he probably stuck it underneath the bed in his Fortress. It makes no sense why he has a bed if you ask me. Well, I just wanted to say that whatever you do, don't get the Daemon Edges. Because, despite what anyone says, it'll revive Goura and Guren. Goura's a really annoying summon creature who has split personalities, or at least he used to be. I got the less annoying part of him implanted in us. I had to have surgery, which is how your mom died because she has a phobia of blood and couldn't take it. I'm dying as I write this letter, but I forced you to swallow a summonite gem so that you can Beta Shift too. _

_Before I go, let me tell you why you shouldn't revive Guren who attached himself to Goura so that he'd be alive again. Guren's actually a sore loser who I beat at a fishing competition. Ever since then he tried very hard to kill me and then the rest of Cliff Village for 'rigging the contest,' as he put it. He's just a freak. I bet that he still wants revenge and will be after you, too._

_Then again, the Daemon Edges are shiny and are a nice decoration to any room, so if you do decide to go through it, I'll support you from the dead! By then it'll be Bruno's half-century Summonite Gem change. If you need help looking for some, don't look in my grave. Please. _

_From,_

_Graham Crackers Clothearts_

Bruno hovered near the letter. "Oh, don't listen to Graham. You should look in his grave. He set up a whole catacomb system down there. I was too scared to go by myself because I think he haunts it, but if you just poke around with a shovel you'll find a ladder leading down there. He even set up a teleporter—you know, those green things—so he's actually expecting people to go down there. I'll bet he has a bunch of summonite gems stockpiled. I mean, how else would he be able to find one in time to force you to swallow it?"

"The wind says that Graham really prepared for his death," said Salt.

"How morbid!" said Sierra in a cheerful tone. "Let's go look for a shovel! Coming, Bruno?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Bruno. "If Graham really does haunt that place, I'll be doomed. And he says _Guren's_ the freak…Who designs their grave to such an extreme detail anyway?"

"But Guren attached himself to Goura," pointed out Salt.

"What can I say…" said Bruno. "The two were best friends before that fishing competition."

"Salt, why are you still there?" yelled Sierra from a few yards away. "Come on!"

"Pleeeease come, Bruno?" begged Salt.

"No way," said Bruno.

"Saaaalt!" called Sierra.

Salt looked at Bruno sadly, who blew him off and floated deeper into the Ruins. Then Salt trudged back to Sierra.

"Ready!" said Salt.

"Great! Let's ask Blaire for a shovel now," said Sierra.

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"You want a shovel?" repeated Blaire. He was lying in bed, at this point merely pretending to be sick so that he wouldn't have to get up. "I have a Shovel Shapestone that you can use. I'm not sure if it's that great though."

"Awesome! Where is it?" asked Sierra.

"I'm not telling you till you tell me who Orin went to see today," said Blaire.

"Tatiana!" answered Salt.

"I thought it seemed shady…" said Blaire thoughtfully. "Okay, the shovel shapestone is…" He paused dramatically. "In our basement!"

"You mean in my workshop?" asked Sierra.

"No! That's just a decoy! It's not _really_ our basement. That's actually the family room that we named the basement," said Blaire.

"So...we actually have a basement that's underground?" asked Sierra, surprised.

"Yes! You can get there by the trapdoor under the dining table," said Blaire.

"How do we get out?" asked Salt.

"What is this, an interrogation?" asked Blaire. "There's only one way to get out…The basement is connected to the Graham Catacombs—your dad, Sierra—and you'll have to poke around with your shovel when you reach it's exit which is covered lightly by dirt near Graham's 'grave.' Orin stuck Tatiana down there once and she said that Graham haunts it. She nearly starved down there because Orin didn't realize that there wasn't any other way to get out of the basement without going through the Catacombs, so she had to eat dirt which probably destroyed her taste-buds and made her a horrible cook."

"I think she's a good cook…" mumbled Sierra.

"Well anyway…oh wait. (cough) Phew, I almost forgot that I was supposed to be sick—uh, cough, the fever must be getting to me. I'm getting delusional…." said Blaire.

"Bye Master Blaire!" said Sierra. She dragged Salt downstairs and they fell down the trapdoor. They landed on hard floor that was about fifteen feet below Blaire's dining table.

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The basement had earthy walls and resembled a cave. It was almost pitch black. Sierra held on to Salt so that they wouldn't be separated. It was also very quiet and rather eerie.

"I can't see a thing…" murmured Sierra. "How are we going to find the shovel shapestone?"

"There's no wind down here," whispered Salt, scared. "I don't like places without the wind!"

"There's no light either," Sierra reminded him/it. "Don't you have any spells to help us out?"

"Umm…I have 'Burst Flare' if you want the area to light up, and 'Enchant Flare' if you want to light up an item, but I don't feel like doing either of them," said Salt.

"Good reason!" said Sierra. "Okay, new plan. Let's just walk around and if we trip over something it's probably the shovel shapestone!"

"Sierra? Don't we have to forge the shovel shapestone to make it a shovel?" asked Salt with realization.

"Yeah, so?" asked Sierra.

"We need a forge…We'll be stuck down here! Master Blaire didn't help…" said Salt.

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"Shoot!" Blaire exclaimed. "There'll be no way for them to get out! I better go tell the chief." He sighed and got up. He was going to miss staying in bed day and night.

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Sierra tripped, dragging Salt down with her. She picked up the thing that she tripped over.

"What is it?" asked Salt.

"I can't tell, it's too dark," grunted Sierra.

"We're doooooomed," wailed Salt. "Dooooooomed!"

There was an echo. Sierra and Salt heard 'Doooooooomed' five more times. And then a sixth in a completely different voice which they disregarded.

Sierra gave Salt the thing to hold, and they made their way further into the basement. After walking a considerable way and tripping over more things (too many to pick up), they came to a narrower passageway. They only noticed when Salt walked into the wall and when Sierra laughed at his expense.

As soon as they walked through it, the walls lit up with numerous torches and a sign hung from the ceiling which read 'Welcome to Graham's Catacombs.' There was a teleporter below the sign which didn't go anywhere but the other entrance of the Catacombs, but the other teleporter had to be activated first.

"Yaaay, we can see now!" cheered Salt.

"Yaaay!" echoed Sierra. They walked deeper in, torches lighting as they did. A few minutes later, something came through the floor and popped up right in front of them. It was…

A Nina Nina.

"Waaah!" screamed Sierra. "Oh. It's Nina Nina. What got into me?"

"I-I'm not scary?" asked Nina Nina sadly.

"No. I just wasn't expecting you," said Sierra.

"Nina Nina!" said Salt randomly, just because he liked the name.

"Yes?" said Nina Nina.

"Nothing," said Salt.

"Oh…" Nina Nina's ghostly eyes watered. "I feel so miserable now…I come here once in a while because there's a nice ghost here who makes me feel good about myself, but then you two came in and ruined it all!" She wailed.

"Uh, sorry?" said Sierra.

"Tatiana's Skilled leaves me out on everything! And Passeau won't give back my body! And I keep getting loost, and I don't know what to dooooo," continued Nina Nina.

"Can't help you, bye," said Sierra hastily. She and Salt walked through Nina Nina quickly.

Nina Nina made a sniffing noise. "And then you walk through me! You act like I'm not even humaaan!"

"But you're not," said Salt.

"I used to be!" whined Nina Nina. "I want my body back…"

"Passeau has to get married to Ryouga first," said Sierra.

"Oh…but that'll never happen!" said Nina Nina sadly. "Ryouga doesn't like girls with glasses. He likes girls with long pinkish-red hair that's put into a bun."

Sierra was aghast. "Like Tatiana?"

"No, silly! _A_ bun, not two," corrected Nina Nina.

"Oh. Then Passeau should die her hair pinkish-red and put it into a bun," said Sierra.

"B-but that's my body! And I like my hair the way it is…" said Nina Nina.

Sierra then snapped her fingers. "I got it! We can get Passeau to transfer her spirit to a Villager, since they don't matter anyway, and then your body'll be open for you!"

Nina Nina's lips quivered. "You'd do that…for me?"

Sierra shrugged. "Sure."

"Oh my! I'll have to communicate to that nice guy Toumei that he doesn't have to come any more!" Nina Nina said happily, which was a great contrast from her usual self.

"He should come anyway," said Salt.

"Huh? Why?" asked Nina Nina.

"Because there's a lunch special tomorrow at Tatiana's curry restaurant and he shouldn't miss it," said Sierra.

"Oh! That's a great idea! I wish I thought of it…" Nina Nina returned to her gloomy self.

"By the way, Nina Nina. Do you know how to get out of here?" asked Sierra.

"I'm sorry, but I just go through the ceiling…" said Nina Nina miserably. "I can't help. Bye now…"

Nina Nina drifted through the ceiling, leaving Sierra and Salt by themselves again.

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Blaire pretended to cough as soon as he entered the Chief's house. He told him how Sierra and Salt went down to the Catacombs and had virtually no way to get out.

"Say no more, Blaire," said the Chief. "This situation just cries for a town meeting!"

"But those are so long!" whined Blaire. "I mean, cough cough."

"It must be your fever talking…" said the Chief, shaking his head sympathetically. "The Villagers will be there momentarily. Why don't you go back to bed and rest?"

"Cough, great idea," said Blaire.

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"Hi," said a suspicious voice. A blonde pale man in a fishing outfit floated before Sierra and Salt. He also held a ghostly fishing pole. "I'm Graham and—Sierra? Did you get my letter or did you just accidentally fall through Blaire's trapdoor?"

"Yup, I got the letter! I didn't know where else to find Summonite Gems," admitted Sierra.

Graham's Ghost laughed evilly. "Oh, I had to let that out. Much better. Are you sure you couldn't find them anywhere else?"

"Yeah. The Clock Knight blew up one of the gems and Bruno doesn't know where the others are," explained Sierra.

Graham's Ghost looked thoughtful, and then it put on a scary expression. Salt shivered. "Say I give you the gems…what'll you give me in return?"

"Well you see, I was kinda hoping I'd get it as a gift," said Sierra, motioning randomly with her hands.

"Oh no. It doesn't work that way, dear daughter. I want..._your souls_," whispered Graham's Ghost.

"Please don't take my soul, Mr. Graham's Ghost. Can't you just take Sierra's?" said Salt.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sierra. She shifted the shovel shapestone from her left hand to her right. (How coincidental that she found that of all things)

Graham's Ghost laughed. "I always wanted to say that. _Souls_. I scared Blaire so badly that time he accidentally fell down here. It's his own fault for connecting his basement to my catacombs."

"So…you're not going to eat our souls?" asked Salt.

"Nope. Tried souls before, didn't like 'em," said Graham's Ghost, making a face. "Of course, there was garlic around there too…Garlic and souls don't really mix…"

"So, Gra—uh, Dad. Where's your body?" asked Sierra curiously.

"It's in one of the chambers close to where we are now. I have my own alter and everything. Pretty cool stuff," said Graham's Ghost.

"Mr. Graham's Ghost, can we have the summonite gems now?" asked Salt, changing the subject. It was feeling rather squeamish.

"I can't just _give_ them to you," stated Graham's Ghost. "They're in…the deepest part of the Catacombs…"

"So?" asked Sierra.

"It's too scary to go down there," said Graham's Ghost. "So I can't help you. It's full of…Cattans. Infested! They're machine things, so I can't even eat their souls if I tried!"

From somewhere very far away, Bruno felt indignant but he didn't know why.

"Cattans?" repeated Sierra, eyes wide. "Darn it."

"Good luck, Sierra!" said Graham's Ghost. "While she's doing that, do you want to see my fishing pole collection?"

"Sure Mr. Graham's Ghost! Whee!" sang Salt.

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"Today I have an important announcement to make," said Chief. "I just forgot what it is."

"So we're gathered here for nothing?" asked Villager.

"Oh wait—I think I'm getting it!" The Chief looked proud of himself. "Oh yes! My announcement is that Blaire has red hair. That is all."

Villager wiped his eye. "That was the most moving announcement I've ever heard in my life."

Villager handed him a tissue. "It was truly beautiful. I always thought Blaire had brown hair."

"Yeah, it was so informative," agreed Villager.

"I never would have guessed!" confessed Villager.

The Villagers cheered the Chief. He bowed in front of the mob.

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Sierra cautiously climbed down a ladder and walked through a floor completely covered by Cattans.

The Cattans surrounded her. One of them spoke up, which threw Sierra off. She didn't know that Cattans could speak.

"Intruder," said the Cattan Who Could Speak. "State your business or else."

"Uh, I need to get some Summonite gems for Bruno…" said Sierra.

"It's that time already?" asked the Cattan Who Could Speak. "Hmm. What do you think, Cattan 2?"

Cattan 2 spoke up. "Why should we give them to her, Cattan 1? How do we know if we should trust her?"

Sierra looked miserably at the ladder that was now out of her reach. She hated Cattans. "Of course you should trust me! I uh, love all Cattans!"

"Let's test her," said Cattan 3. This one had a flag tied to it that said 'No.3' "Quick, what's two plus five?"

"Thirty eight!" said Sierra hastily.

"She's too stupid to be dangerous!" said Cattan 1 approvingly. "Let's give her the gems!"

Sierra shivered. Another Cattan was standing on her right boot.

"Cattan 4! If you're going to steal her boot, do it quick!" said Cattan 2.

The tank part of Cattan 4 split into two halves—between which was revealed a row of sharp teeth. It bit the boot and dragged it off of Sierra's foot. She fell to the floor. "Ow!"

"Here, Cattan 5," said Cattan 4 to a Cattan next to it. Cattan 5 pushed the boot away.

"Come with us," said Cattan 3. "You look tasty—uh, the Summonite gems are in our kitc—hm, just follow!"

"Sure…" said Sierra. She wondered how Cattans could be mechanical and yet have mouths.

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"So this one I won off of Guren," said Graham's Ghost, holding another ghostly fishing rod in front of Salt. "It looks great, but it's the worst fishing rod I've ever seen. It gets snagged in the stupidest places. Guren only brought it for show, but he didn't want me to know that."

"Why did you keep it?" asked Salt.

"It's really funny how Guren looked like he was going to cry when I waved it in front of him. He spent A LOT on it," answered Graham's Ghost. "Let me show you my favorite rod of all. I could catch a lobster within a second with it."

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"Stand in that empty pot over there while Cattan 3 throws garlic all over you," ordered Cattan 1.

"When do I get the Summonite gems?" asked Sierra.

"Oh right," said Cattan 5. "Them."

"They're in the garlic," said Cattan 6. The six was drawn with a permanent marker on its tank.

"Why did you tell her that?" asked Cattan 2 indignantly.

Cattan 3 threw garlic at Sierra. She dodged them and they fell in the pot with a loud THUD. She ducked into the pot and split them open, finding the red gems. "OH YEAH! I got the gems!"

"Darn it," said Cattan 3.

"She would've never figured that out if you didn't tell her that, Cattan 6!" accused Cattan 2.

"Bye Cattans!" said Sierra hastily. She climbed out of the pot holding the shovel shapestone and gems tightly. She started to run, but another Cattan blocked her.

"Go Cattan 42!" cheered Cattan 4.

"You have to beat all fifty of us Cattans if you want to get back," said Cattan 42 ominously.

"But I hate Cattans!" wailed Sierra.

"Attack!" bellowed Cattan 42. All fifty of the Cattans jumped on Sierra.

"Aaah!" screamed Sierra. She fell to the ground, with the fifty Cattans on top of her.

"Muahahaha!" laughed a Cattan.

"Shut up, Cattan 39!" said Cattan 5, annoyed.

"If we can beat HER up, we can conquer all of LYNDBAUM!" continued Cattan 39, ignoring Cattan 5.

"I can't breathe!" said Sierra. Her voice was muffled because of the Cattans.

"Quick, Cattan 22! Give her a nasal strip!" said Cattan 1.

"I'm on it!" answered Cattan 22. It got off of Sierra and opened its tank. Instead of the mouth, this Cattan was filled with nasal strips designed to make breathing easier for the average stuffy nose. It discarded the wrapper and climbed onto Sierra again, sticking the strip to Sierra's nose.

"Thanks," said Sierra, though muffled.

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"That's all of them," said Graham's Ghost.

"That was fun!" said Salt.

"Yeah…I love showing off my collection," said Graham's Ghost blissfully. "Hey, Sierra never came back. Maybe you should go and check up on her."

"Okay," said Salt.

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"Just remember," said Cattan 22. "You can't keep the nasal strip on for more than twelve hours."

"How long are you things going to STAY on me?" asked Sierra. The Cattans didn't hear her because it was muffled once again.

"Hi," said Salt, entering the Cattans' kitchen.

"That sounds like Salt…" mumbled Sierra.

Salt stepped closer to the fifty Cattans, all lumped weirdly together. He kicked at one of them. It was Cattan 3. Cattan 3 shriveled at the kick and started to melt. The space that Cattan 3 previously covered revealed itself to be Sierra's foot, relieved of its boot.

"Sierra! Yay, I found Sierra!" cheered Salt. He kicked at another Cattan, that shrieked and also melted. After forty-eight weak and pathetic kicks, all the Cattans were gone and in their place was a big puddle.

"Salt, you saved me!" said Sierra happily.

"Whee!" said Salt. "I saved Sierra!"

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"You're back," said Graham's Ghost. "So I suppose you want to leave my Catacombs, right?"

"I'll miss you, Mr. Graham's Ghost," said Salt.

"Yeah, you were one great listener," said Graham's Ghost wistfully. "Oh well."

"They're so shiny," said Sierra, mesmerized, looking at the summonite gems.

"If you think _those_ are shiny, wait till you see the Daemon Edges," said Graham's Ghost. "Well, follow me. I'll lead you to where my tombstone rests."

After ten minutes of walking, the ceiling and the ground started to get closer together, causing Sierra and Salt to crawl after a while. Soon they reached a dead end.

"This is it," said Graham's Ghost. "Do you have a shovel?"

"No," answered Sierra. "But I have a shapestone!"

"You'll have to dig with your hands then," said Graham's Ghost.

Sierra looked sadly at her already dirty hands from crawling on the ground. "But they'll get dirty!"

"Hmm…well, shapestones _are_ just big rocks. Just attack the ceiling with it," said Graham's Ghost thoughtfully.

"I wanna do it!" said Salt excitedly. He took the shapestone and rammed it against the ceiling. Dirt fell down on Sierra who was standing directly under it. Salt climbed up and into the fresh air above.

Graham's Ghost hissed. "Sun! I'll melt if I stay longer. Bye Sierra and Sierra's guardian beast."

"Byeee Mr. Graham's Ghost!" said Salt, waving.

Sierra wiped off the dirt from her face. "Bye dad!"

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"Here are the summonite gems," said Sierra.

"Install them," said Bruno. "It's not like I have _hands_ to do that. Actually, that's a lie. I don't feel like doing it. Hey, why do they smell like garlic?"

"I don't remember," said Sierra. She opened one of Bruno's compartments. It was a radio. She closed it and tried again. She found a lot of confetti. She tried again. There was a hand puppet. The next time was a pair of socks.

After some more trying, she finally found the power compartment. The word 'battery' was crossed out, and a post-it was stuck on it and in crayon it said 'summonite gems.' There were four slots for the summonite gems. Sierra tossed the old ones out and put the new ones in. Then she closed the compartment.

"Thanks, dudette. Let's go to a random ruined factory now, shall we? I feel like it's a great change of scenery from the Ruins," said Bruno. There was a bright white light and Sierra and Salt found themselves in a factory that played cool music.

"Graham told me to put the Daemon Edge in here, so yeah," explained Bruno. "I don't remember exactly where it is in here…Actually, that's a lie. I do know, but I don't feel like showing you. But you DO need a drill."

"I forged this shovel instead," said Sierra. She looked at the green shovel fondly. It was covered in moss and lichens, since it was down in that basement for quite a while.

"That'll work!" said Bruno approvingly. "There are a lot of fun conveyor belts to ride in here. The dungeon dude posted everything up there if you need any help. I'm going to stay here because I don't feel like moving."

Sierra looked at the glowing pillar and dragged Salt in front of it. "So cool! I bet it glows in the dark!"

"Oh, it does. I cut off the power here once just to check that out. Pretty cool stuff," confirmed Bruno.

This is what the pillar said:

_This place has awesome conveyer belts! They're right next to each other. One goes one way, and there's usually another one that takes you back where you started! I kept riding the first conveyor belt I saw and going back with the second one, and after a few hours I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. Take it from someone who knows—don't keep riding the same conveyor belts over and over again! There are also glowing switches. I stepped on one and it switched the direction of a conveyor belt. Then I used my hammer to see what would happen and I broke it. Oops. So for that conveyor belt you'll have to run against its direction if you need to go the other way. Which you'll have to do, because that's the only way to get back out of here. There are also walls that look like if you touch them they'll fall apart. Punching them kind of hurts, believe me. You're much better off with a drill or something. Dungeon dude, signing off!_

"Awesome! Let's go, Salt!" said Sierra.

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After whacking the wall with her shovel, Sierra found herself in a room with the Daemon Edge.

"It's as shiny as the wind said it would be!" said Salt.

"Ooooh!" breathed Sierra. "I bet Ryouga wants his hair to be this shiny!"

Sierra grabbed the Daemon Edge. The power in the factory went out. "Oh well. The sword glows in the dark too." She put the Daemon Edge into the convenient scabbard that came with it.

There was a grunt. The Black Swordsman blocked the exit of the room. He held a radio labeled "Gabriel's Radio" in his right hand, and a sword in his left. The radio glowed in the dark, the words on it especially illuminated.

"Funny. It's spelled just like 'Gabriel's Radio' would be spelled like!" commented Sierra. "Oh, hi Black Swordsman!"

"Hey," said the Black Swordsman. "I'm here on Tatiana's behalf. Give me that sword."

"One second," said Sierra. She tried to pull out the sword from the scabbard for the Black Swordsman. "Oh no, it's stuck!"

The Black Swordsman groaned. "It was a magic lock! Are you sure you can't take it out?"

"Positive!" said Sierra. "Darn it, now I can't decorate my room!"

"I don't want the scabbard…when you figure out how to take it out, I'll be back," said the Black Swordsman. "Let's fight for the heck of it now."

"Aww…I hate fighting…I'm pro-non-violence, I say!" said Sierra loudly. She held a random white flag that she found randomly placed near where the sword used to be. "I love peace!"

The Black Swordsman held up a black flag that he found near the door. "My flag is cooler."

"So what? My flag is prettier!" argued Sierra, paying no mind to how the dirt on her hands from Graham's Catacombs started to get all over the white flag.

"It's abstract art!" piped up Salt.

The Black Swordsman put down his flag. "We don't need to fight. I'll just tell Tatiana that I beat you up and she'll be happy. Bye."

The Black Swordsman left. Bruno transcripted into the room.

"Hi Bruno!" said Sierra.

"Hey. I wanted to watch you run against the conveyor belt," confessed Bruno. "Oh, and congratulations on finding the Daemon Scabbard. You can whack people over the head with those. Where's the sword though?"

"I put it inside," explained Sierra.

"Oh. There's a Magic Lock on it…I can't open it. Actually, that's a lie. But I don't feel like opening it. Salt can do it too, but us lazy summon creatures rock," said Bruno.

Bruno egged Sierra on and guided her to the broken switch. Then he and Salt watched as she ran wildly across but wasn't fast enough. The dejected Sierra fell and the conveyor belt pulled her back to Bruno and Salt. Then Bruno transcripted them back to the Ruins.

"That was fun," said Bruno.

"Speak for yourself…" mumbled Sierra. She was bruised and unhappy.

"Oh wait, I forgot to show you GUNVALD. I guess you can see it later," said Bruno.

"It's dark," said Salt. "I'm going to talk to the wind." Salt left the ruins.

"Bye Salt! Where should I go today…" murmured Sierra.

"I'm here!" said Bruno. "If you talk to me, you won't have to do extra exercise for that walk!"

"How do you know I always go for a walk to talk to someone?" asked Sierra suspiciously.

"Xeride told me," explained Bruno.

"Oh," said Sierra. "Okay…well, I can go to Graham's Catacombs and talk to dad's ghost, or I can find this GUNVALD and talk to it, despite the fact that it can't talk back. Hmm…"

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_End of Day VI_

_Talked with: Gabriel_

"Hi, Gabriel!" said Sierra. Gabriel was in the area of the Hononas. The Black Swordsman mask lay nearby, since he just took it off. Xeride was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, hi Sierra," said Gabriel. He nervously kicked the mask behind some tall grass.

"Where's Xeride?" asked Sierra, looking around. "Isn't it always with you?"

"Xeride's talking to someone named Bruno," said Gabriel with a shrug.

"Oh. I haven't seen you all day. Or Lyn actually," said Sierra, forgetting that Gabriel was the Black Swordsman.

"Hold on…" Gabriel held up the same radio that made an appearance earlier in this chapter. He switched the music to the 'night talk' music instead of the 'Entry Woods' music. "I was…"

"You know, the Black Swordsman has the same exact radio as you!" interrupted Sierra. "AND it even has the same words on it. That's so awesome! Did you guys get it from the same place? I bet there was a sale! I love sales!"

"Me too," said Gabriel. "I actually bought this one at full price."

"Oh…I'm sorry," said Sierra, similar to the tone someone would use to a person who had just lost a loved one.

"It's okay…" said Gabriel. "I got over it…Thank you, Sierra. You're always so kind."

"I try," said Sierra. "Did you…at least have any coupons?"

Gabriel looked down sadly. "No…" he whispered.

Sierra was shocked. "Oh, that's so sad!"

"I know…" agreed Gabriel. "I had one actually, but it expired."

"Th-that's the worst!" stuttered Sierra. Then she started to cry, because it's not fair that Ryouga and Orin are the only two who get to see the main female lead cry. "Oh the horror of buying things full price!"

"Please don't cry, Sierra," said Gabriel, alarmed. "It happened years ago! I didn't mean to make you cry…"

Sierra sniffed. "I shouldn't be crying…it happened to you after all. Bye Gabriel…I have to go to sleep."

Sierra left.

That night, Sierra had a nightmare about missing a sale.


	7. Chapter 7: Day VII

_Pointless Chatter: Eh, took a long break. I actually had this written out for a long time. I'm kinda busy right now so I'm going to post this as fast as possible. Thanks to all reviews, and a special thank you goes out to--CoughHackChokeDie and NybCR. Except, I sorta named Magna Magnus. But I think Magnus sounds cooler anyway! So it could stay that way. I believe I wrote in Chapter 8 "I forgot what the third summoner's name was, but I'm going to name him Magnus" and whattaya know? I was pretty darn close!_

**Important: Please PLEASE vote who Sierra should talk to in the ninth chapter because I am posting both the seventh and eighth today so you need to hurry, or the ninth chapter won't be written for a long while. Thank you. **(I honestly have no idea who to choose, so I'm leaving it all up to you guys!)

Chapter Seven: Day VII

"Heh heh heh," laughed Sarin, as evilly as she could. The mermaid pressed the switch as soon as Byron turned around to open the decoy treasure chest she had left there. It was empty. She swam a few feet away from the switch and stared.

Byron closed the treasure chest in annoyance. What was the point of a treasure chest with no treasure inside anyway? He turned around. Wait…That bridge that he used to come here…it was gone!

"Can't reach this switch, can you?" asked Sarin gleefully. She pointed to the switch with her fin. "That's too bad…"

"The heck are you?" blurted out Byron.

Sarin glared. "I'm a mermaid, duh! Haven't seen one before?"

"No, and you look completely stupid," said Byron bluntly. "You're part fish right? What's the point of wearing that thing on your head if you're part fish?"

Sarin touched her helmet consciously. She looked like she was aspiring to be an astronaut. She didn't have gills like a fish so she needed it to breathe underwater. "I do _not_ look stupid! _You_ look stupid!"

Byron gasped. "Moi? Never."

Sarin stuck her tongue out. "I was considering helping you, but after all those mean things you said I don't think I will!"

"I don't need your help anyway!" shot back Byron.

"So what are you going to do, swim over?" taunted Sarin.

"Are you kidding? That water's filthy! It's got things like _you_ in it," said Byron.

Sarin gasped. "You _didn't!_ Ugh, why do I even_ bother_. I'd have much better luck with the hunky summon creature with the lobster claw." Sarin stuck her nose in the air and dove underneath the water.

"I'm hungry…" muttered Byron. "Too bad I hate fish…"

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"So you're saying that this Fulgur Horn will make my skin look healthier?" asked Sierra.

"Definitely!" said A Merchant. "It'll even give it a healthy green sheen to it!"

"Green! You should buy it, Sierra!" said Salt.

"It's only double the price than it usually is! What do you say? Quite an offer, hmm?" said A Merchant.

"I'll take it!" said Sierra. She handed the amount of boam the A Merchant asked for. A Merchant scurried out of view suspiciously.

"I can't wait to take a bath with this!" said Sierra gleefully.

"We should go find the Daemon Edge…" said Salt. "The wind says that we'll meet new people today."

"Ooh, new people! I guess my bath will have to wait. Let's go to Bruno!" said Sierra excitedly. She and Salt exited Cliff Village.

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"Hi Salt!" said Bruno.

"Hi Bruno!" replied Salt.

Sierra coughed.

"So, Salt. What brings you here today in this lovely weather?" asked Bruno.

Sierra coughed again.

"Are you sick, Sierra?" asked Salt.

"Maybe she's coming down with something," said Bruno.

"Bruno, you never said hi to me!" said Sierra indignantly.

"Hi," said Bruno.

"Anyway, can we go to a beach, Bruno? The wind likes beaches," said Salt.

"I like the beach too!" piped up Sierra.

"I know of five hundred beaches. Would you like to see my catalog?" asked Bruno.

"Sure!" said Salt.

"I used to be a tour guide," said Bruno. "I threw a donut at a girl and got fired." One of Bruno's compartments swung open, and a catalog labeled 'Most Famous beaches of Lyndbaum' was revealed. Sierra reached in and snatched it.

"This one looks good," said Sierra. "They give out free ice cream!" She pointed at the very first beach.

Salt pointed at the next one. "This one gives free ice cream and free donuts!"

"Don't go to that one…" said Bruno. "That's the one I got fired in. They'll mob me."

"Did someone say mob?" asked Villager, coming to the ruins.

"I heard it too!" said Villager.

"I heard something about donuts," said Villager.

"ICE CREAM!" screamed Villager.

"SHUT UP GUYS! They're not supposed to HEAR us!" yelled Villager.

"Yeah, like they didn't hear that," said Villager.

"JUST SHUT UP!" yelled Villager.

"I'm hearing…_voices!" _said Sierra, scared. She didn't realize that Villagers were all over the Ruins now.

"What are they all doing here?" asked Bruno.

"We're stalking Sierra!" said Villager.

Chief just walked into the ruins. "Hey, what's going on? I turn around one second and my village is completely empty! Except for Lynn but no one cares about her. And the curry restaurant that was built without my permission is also bustling. And also Blaire and Orin are in their house as usual."

"We're going on vacation!" said Villager.

"Vacation?" repeated Chief. "Without me?"

"You can come too!" said Villager.

"We're going to a beach!" said Villager.

"Oh no…Transcripting all these people at the same time is so much work…" complained Bruno. "Did you pick a beach already?"

"How about this one?" asked Sierra, pointing to another beach. "This one gives out bananas."

"Let's go to that one!" roared the Chief.

"What's it called?" asked Bruno.

"Banana Beach," answered Sierra.

"I was banned from that beach too…Wait a second!" Bruno took the catalog from her. "I was banned from most of these! Oops…"

"So…we're not going anywhere?" asked Villager, lips quivering.

"We have to! This is the one time we actually bothered to stalk Sierra! It can't all be in vain!" said Villager loudly.

"YEAH! We have to go _somewhere_ today!" said Villager.

Bruno flipped through the catalog. "Wait! There is _one_ place I haven't been banned from! It's Subterranean Bay!"

"But that's a bay…" said Sierra sadly.

"It's got sand!" said Bruno.

"LET'S GO!" said Villagers.

Bruno transcripted everyone.

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"It's crowded here! I can't breathe…" said Sierra.

A moment later, Villagers scurried around Subterranean Bay and Sierra could breathe again.

"There's another pillar that the dungeon dude wrote on," said Bruno. "You might want to check it out. Except, all the words faded. So you might want to just admire it."

"Okay," said Sierra. She and Salt stared at the pillar fondly. Then they moved on.

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"Look, a fish!" exclaimed Villager.

"Quick, catch it! I'm hungry!" said Villager.

"Gah! I'm a MERMAID, you dimwits! Not a fish!" said Sarin. A spear flew at her, which she barely managed to dodge.

"Don't bother with her!" said Byron. "I'm stuck because the fish pressed the switch! All you have to do is press it again!"

"I know what to do!" exclaimed Sierra. She was done admiring the pillar. She grabbed her hammer and gave the switch a good WHACK.

The switch broke.

"Nooooo!" wailed Byron.

Villagers ignored him. "Let's eat the talking fish!"

"Where did these people _come_ from?" muttered Sarin. She quickly swam out of view before a torrent of spears, spatulas, and beach towels were thrown at her.

"Fear not, Villagers!" said Chief. "I'm one of the best fishers in Lyndbaum!"

"Over my dead body," said Old Man Who Always Stands In Front of Fish Pond. He is other wise known as: Omwasifof. "I'm much better at fishing than you!"

"…_Bring it_," said Chief.

"Oh yes!" said Villager. "We're having a fishing competition."

"I bet on the Chief!" said Villager.

"Are you kidding? The old man's definitely going to win!" said Villager.

"You're just saying that 'cause you're married to him!" said Villager.

"Am not! He gave me a king fish for our last anniversary! Those are hard to get!" retorted Villager.

"Whatever," said Villager.

Salt tugged on Sierra's clothes. "They're making me hungry. Let's catch the talking fish while they have their competition."

"Good idea, Salt! Let's go!" said Sierra.

"Guys…" said Byron.

"Who's he?" asked Salt.

"Um…" Sierra walked around Villagers who had formed a perfect circle behind Chief and Omwasifof. "Who are you?"

"I'm Byron. You're the idiot who broke the switch! Get me out of here!" said Byron angrily.

"Oooh, Byron just called you an idiot, Sierra! Are you just going to take that lying down?" asked Salt.

"But I'm standing," said Sierra.

"Ugh! Help me! I'm _starved_," said Byron.

"Maybe you should jump," suggested Sierra.

"You're kidding! I'll fall in!" complained Byron.

Sierra and Salt shrugged and walked away.

"Grr…" Byron backed up and had a running start. He jumped and landed on Villager, breaking Villager's bones.

"Ow…" said Villager.

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Sarin stood behind the 'hunky summon creature,' fuming. "Can you believe it? They wanted to EAT me."

"You _do_ look delicious," said the hunky summon creature.

"You cannibal!" accused Sarin.

"I'm a vegetarian," said the hunky summon creature. "And a pacifist. I won't eat you."

"You will protect me, right?" whispered Sarin seductively.

"No," said the hunky summon creature.

It didn't take long for Byron, Sierra, and Salt to reach them.

"Can you MOVE, so I can walk deeper into this stupid bay?" asked Sierra rudely to the hunky summon creature.

"Ooh, aggressive women turn me on…" said the hunky summon creature who needs a name. We shall call him Larry.

"Did you just call my bay stupid?" asked Sarin.

"Yeah," said Sierra.

"It's my bay too," said the hunky summon creature sadly. "I want to move actually, but no one wants a summon creature with big lobster claws like mine living with them."

"You should live in Cliff Village! We accept everyone!" said Sierra.

"Do you sell houses?" asked Byron suddenly. "I didn't realize…"

"Not really…" said Sierra.

"Do _you_ live in Cliff Village?" asked Larry.

"Yep!" said Sierra. "Can you move now?"

"Move to your village? I'd love to!" said Larry.

"No…I meant, move out of the way so I can get through and find a really, really shiny sword that glows in the dark," said Sierra. "Is there even one here?"

"Yeah…" said Larry. "You're hot…what's your name?"

"That's Salt," said Sierra. "Move it!"

"Not until you say you'll go out with me…I'll even give you one of my prized fake lobster claws!" Larry took out his claw, revealing a tentacle underneath. He handed it to Sierra.

"Is it edible?" asked Sierra.

Larry nodded. "It tastes like chocolate."

"I'll treasure it forever!" exclaimed Sierra.

"You never said what your name was," said Sarin. "I'm Sarin by the way."

"I'm Sierra…" said Sierra.

"Sierra…will you marry me?" asked Larry.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sarin. "Did you just _replace_ me?"

"Well, after seeing someone more beautiful than you, I realized that I was really missing out. Plus, she sells houses," said Larry.

"He just OWNED you," said Byron to Sarin.

"You know, you don't look half bad yourself…" said Sarin, turning her attention on Byron.

"…Half…bad? I'm the handsomest guy you'll EVER see, you talking fish," said Byron angrily.

"I'm a _mermaid_!" said Sarin for the umpteenth time.

"So…Sierra…what do you say?" asked Larry. "Will you—hey, where did Sierra go?"

"Oh, they crawled past you a while ago," said Byron.

"Nooo! My new love has escaped me!" Suddenly, Larry grew red. "Now I'm angry! I was never good at anger management…I know! I'll take out my anger on YOU!" Larry turned around.

Sarin gulped. "Places to go, people to see. Later!"

Sarin slithered out of view with her slithery fin.

"Hi," said Byron. He was quite shaken. "Uh…How do you _feel_?"

"I feel like killing someone," answered Larry darkly.

"Um…you know, at times like these, maybe you should go fishing," said Byron hastily.

Larry paused in the middle of almost hitting Byron. "Hey…that's not a bad idea! I'll do it! Thanks." He held out a tentacle. Byron reluctantly shook it.

It was Larry's turn to slither out of view with his slithery self.

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"Hey," said Larry. "Are you two having a fishing competition?"

"Why of course!" said the Chief.

"Do you want to enter?" asked Omwasifof. "Because you're no match for me."

"Are you serious? I can catch fish in my _sleep_! Bring it ON," said Larry.

Villagers cheered.

"What's your name?" asked Villager.

"Some call me Larry," said Larry, shrugging.

"You look like a Water Elemental to me!" disagreed Villager.

"I don't know, that's kind of long…" said Villager.

"I like it!" said Villager.

"All in favor of Water Elemental, say I!" said Villager.

"I!" chorused most of the Villagers.

"Darn it…" said Villager.

"So, Water Elemental," said Chief. "Show us what you got."

"You two are going DOWN," said Water Elemental.

"In your dreams!" said Omwasifof.

"Can you guys hurry it up?" complained Villager. "I'm hungry."

"I want a fish salad," whined Villager. Then he fainted out of hunger.

"Oh no! He fainted! Hurry up and catch something!" said Villager.

"I got a bite, I got a bite!" said Water Elemental excitedly. "Oh wait, it's just a boot."

Water Elemental threw the boot somewhere near Villagers. One Villager picked it up and started chewing on it.

"I'll show you how it's done!" said Chief. He threw his line.

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"Hi Sierra!" said Passeau. She wore a purple bikini. "What's up?"

"It's Passeau!" said Salt excitedly.

"The shiny Daemon Edge is supposed to be here," said Sierra.

"Oh…" said Passeau, disappointed. "It's always _work_ with you. Personally I'm here for vacation. You're so _boring_ Sierra."

"Y-you really think so?" asked Sierra.

"Yeah! You didn't even change to something more beach-like! What's up with _that_?" asked Passeau irritably.

"I couldn't find anything in my closet," said Sierra.

Passeau sighed. "I see that you _really_ need my help. Give me a minute. Gedharm taught me how to summon clothes. It's a pretty cool skill if you ask me." A white-blue sphere of light appeared, and when it disappeared a light blue bikini lay in its place. "There you go, Sierra!"

"Thanks, Passeau!" beamed Sierra.

"Don't thank me. You _really_ needed it," insisted Passeau. She pointed to a small alcove in the wall that was covered with a seaweed curtain. A sign next to it said 'Changing Room.' "Isn't that convenient? You should change there."

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Toumei lifted up his straw hat curiously. Cliff Village was suspiciously empty. Someone named Nina Nina was supposed to meet him at the gate, but there was no such person. In fact, Toumei felt more or less forgotten. He walked around until he found a place that was blasting with music and badly sung karaoke. It was the curry restaurant.

Toumei opened it. Inside were the members of Tatiana's Skilled except Passeau.

Tatiana hopped off a stool. "Hi. Can I interest you in the lunch special? It's got twice the grease and fat than normal!"

Ryouga pushed her out of the way when he saw who came in. "What luscious hair! What shampoo do you use?"

Tatiana angrily pushed Ryouga. "Buy some curry!"

Ryouga pushed Tatiana. "Forget the brat! Join Tatiana's Skilled!"

"Ugh, Ryouga!" Tatiana pushed Ryouga again. "The special is discounted! You get more for less!"

Ryouga pushed Tatiana once more. "Do you use hair gel? I can never get my hair so perfect!"

Tatiana bit Ryouga's arm. Ryouga retreated, looking at the tiny monster incredulously. "Pay no mind to that idiot. Listen, you." Tatiana paused and grabbed a stool. She dragged it over to Toumei and stood on it. Ryouga nursed his arm meanwhile. Then Tatiana grabbed Toumei's collar and pulled him closer to her. "Buy my curry or else!"

Toumei was frightened. "How much is it?"

Tatiana let go, satisfied. She smiled sweetly. "Three thousand boam. Normally it's five thousand for a great special like this."

"That's too much!" gasped Toumei.

"Oh? Then join Tatiana's Skilled. Then you can get it for free. We'll just double the price for the next stupid customer to make up for lost profits!" exclaimed Tatiana.

"You just gave away your business secret!" said Gedharm with a gasp.

"Oh, shut up Gedharm. I know what I'm doing," said Tatiana.

"I'll join!" said Toumei, stomach growling. "My name is Toumei and I'm an Omyoji master."

"Toumei? You're the exorcist I called!" said Nina Nina. Then she drooped. "I'm sorry, but I don't need you anymore…"

"Who cares what you need?" said Gedharm rudely. "Welcome to the team, Toumei."

Toumei took off his straw hat and put it on a table. Then he sat at a bar stool at the counter. "What does Tatiana's Skilled do?"

"You'll figure it out," said Black Swordsman.

"Hey Gedharm! Make us some curry!" ordered Tatiana.

"Sure," said Gedharm. He went to the kitchen in the back.

"You a good singer, Toumei?" asked Ryouga. He stared at his wound. Blood still gushed forth from the tiny bite mark.

"You're such a wimp, Ryouga," said Tatiana under her breath.

"Of course! My singing can wake the dead and exorcise them from unwanted places!" said Toumei proudly.

Tatiana handed him the microphone. "We needed some new entertainment. Go for it."

------------------------------------------------Division Tomato--------------------------------

Sierra came out of the changing room with the bikini on. Passeau and Salt looked at her open-mouthed.

"That color really goes with your hair, Sierra!" said Passeau approvingly.

"The wind says that you'd look better in green," said Salt.

"Well, green clothes require harder summoning," admitted Passeau. "But this looks good on her. I'm going for a swim now, so see you later!"

"Wait, Passeau!" said Sierra. "I was talking to Nina Nina, and I found out that she doesn't like Ryouga more than friends."

"But does Ryouga like her?" asked Passeau.

"Nina Nina said that he only likes girls with pinkish-red hair put up in a bun," said Sierra.

"Oh no! I stole the wrong body!" panicked Passeau.

"Yeah, but we were talking and we thought you should transfer your body to Villager and leave Nina Nina's body for herself," said Sierra.

"That's not a bad idea…I saw one Villager with a really nice figure that I could steal…And she already has long pinkish-red hair! I'll just have to get used to putting hair into a bun for Ryouga…" said Passeau thoughtfully. "I'll do it tomorrow at the curry restaurant. I'm going for that swim now!"

"Bye Passeau!" said Salt and Sierra together. Passeau dived and got attacked by a random summon creature.

------------------------------------------Division Tomato----------------------------------------

"Shiny!" said Salt. They had reached the Daemon Edge. Sarin stood next to it.

Byron came up behind Sierra and Salt. "Ugh. You two came before me…"

Sierra reached for the sword happily.

"Wait!" said Sarin.

Sierra stopped. "What?"

"You can't take that sword! If you do…uh…the cave will explode!"

"I thought this was a bay…" said Sierra.

"WHATEVER. It's going to explode!" said Sarin.

"So?" Sierra reached closer to the sword.

"No, don't! If it explodes, we'll die!" insisted Sarin.

"Including me?" asked Sierra, stopping.

"Yes," said Sarin. "You need to get the Opaline Stone. It's got some special magical power that stops the cave from exploding."

"I don't trust her," said Salt. "She's making me hungry."

"Let's cook her!" said Sierra. She abandoned the sword and reached for Sarin.

"Gah! You're as dumb as those other people!" exclaimed Sarin.

Byron tried to pull out the sword. "I think she's right. The sword won't even come out without that stone thingy."

Sierra shook her head. "Yeah right!" She pulled out the sword.

Nothing happened.

"Um…it takes…a few hours to explode?" said Sarin.

Byron ignored her. "Hey…when did you change?" he asked Sierra.

"A few minutes ago," answered Sierra.

"Get the Opaline Stone!" wailed Sarin. "It's in a girly pink pouch covered in seashells!"

"Why should I?" asked Sierra.

"Because we'll all blow up!" insisted Sarin.

"I can't do it! There's no _motivation!_" complained Sierra.

"Uh…I'll give you three wishes!" tried Sarin.

"Two," argued Salt.

"Deal! Now go!" said Sarin.

-----------------------------------------Division Tomato----------------------------------------------

The room that held the Opaline Stone was filled with decorative seashells and it was very shiny. The pouch was in the middle of the room. Sierra walked forward and picked it up. There was a falling sound.

….A Giant Cattan fell on Sierra.

It was a Cattan with features designed for exposure to water. It had tentacles attached to its tank and it had a claw instead of the customary Cattan head. It was…

Cattan 3000.

Sierra screamed. "Why is it always a Cattan!"

The Cattan was six feet tall and four feet wide. The Cattan's claw-head clenched eagerly.

"I think it likes you, Sierra!" said Salt enthusiastically. The Cattan's claw-head pinched Sierra's arm.

Sierra struggled, but Cattan 3000 was too heavy. She couldn't get up. "I know, I'll try Beta Shift!"

Cool music started to play. Xeride's built-in radio was playing while it hid behind a crystalline boulder since it wasn't invited to the Tatiana's Skilled meeting.

Sierra kept struggling. The cool music kept playing till Sierra's 'Uber-cool whatchamacallit' weapon broke. She couldn't move from underneath the Cattan 3000. The music ended and her Blue Daemon Gem became uncharged.

Salt walked up to the Cattan 3000 and kicked it weakly. Cattan 3000 shrieked and turned into a chocolate bar. Salt picked it up and ate it.

"Thanks Salt…" said Sierra, breathing hard. "That really hurt…"

"That was fun! I wish I could see it again!" said Salt excitedly.

Another Cattan 3000 fell from the ceiling on top of Sierra, somehow dodging Salt who was right next to her. Sierra shrieked and tried to fight it off with her second weapon, the 'Spear My Life.' (Pun—'Spare my life') The second weapon broke.

Salt kicked the Cattan 3000 pitifully. It turned into a bag of sugar. Salt picked it up and put some of the sugar in his mouth.

"I wish—!"

"Let's go, Salt!" interrupted Sierra. She grabbed his hand and dragged him back to Sarin and Byron.

--------------------------------------Division Tomato----------------------------------------------

"I've got it! The girly pouch with the seashells on it!" said Sierra excitedly.

Salt didn't reply. It kept shoveling handfuls of sugar into its mouth.

"Gimme!" Sarin grabbed the pouch. She touched the stone inside. There was a bright light and then her fin disappeared.

"Oh no! The stone killed Sarin and put this evil _thing_ in its place!" said Sierra, shocked.

"She still looks like Sarin…" said Byron thoughtfully.

"I _am_ Sarin!" said Sarin. "I wanted to turn into a human again because when I first saw you, Byron, I was in love…"

"So you pressed the switch and got me stuck on that island?" asked Byron. He wiped a tear from his eye. "That's so sweet!"

"Byron!"

"Sarin!"

The two kissed.

"He didn't act that way when I broke the switch…" muttered Sierra.

"Oh Sierra, how will I ever thank you? You brought the stone back to me. You have another wish by the way," said Sarin.

Salt finished the bag of sugar and the chocolate bar. "I wish I had more junk food."

Another Cattan 3000 fell on top of Sierra. She shrieked and struggled, breaking her last weapon which was the: 'OMG this is the first weapon I made that didn't break when I touched it!' Yes, she should work on shorter names.

Salt kicked the Cattan 3000 pathetically. It became a box of Italian chocolates.

"Mmm!" Salt picked it up and started to eat again.

"Can I have one?" asked Sierra, reaching for the box.

"Mine!" said Salt, moving away.

Sierra was downcast. Then she remembered the shiny sword that she put back in before. She pulled it out.

"It burnsss ussss," hissed Sarin at the light the sword displayed as Sierra took it out. Byron shielded her.

"You're so romantic, Byron!" said Sarin approvingly. The light faded and she kissed him.

Salt ate the last Italian chocolate. "The wind says that we should go."

Sierra's stomach growled. "We should. I'm going to go to Tatiana's curry restaurant before I go home."

"Let's get married there!" said Byron.

"Yes! We'll have to make a reservation!" agreed Sarin.

------------------------------------------------Division Tomato------------------------------------

"I win!" said Omwasifof. Villagers rabidly threw themselves at his heaping basket of fish and ate them raw. Then they went for Chief's and Water Elemental's.

"Grrr," said Chief.

"Grrr," said Water Elemental.

"Say, you look like you can hold a grudge as good as I can," said Chief. "Why don't you come to my village and live with us? You can take Lynn's house."

"Sure thing, dude!" said Water Elemental.

"I'll beat you ALL!" said Omwasifof, cackling.

"You cheated!" accused Chief. "I saw you take fish from mine."

"I did no such thing!" said Omwasifof. "Did I, Villagers?"

"We don't care!" said Villager, biting a fish and spitting out the bones.

"Just keep fishing!" said Villager, biting another fish.

"Sushi!" said Villager.

An hour later, the tired and full Villagers transcripted home with Bruno who had to stay all day to get everyone to go back followed by Chief, Omwasifof, and Water Elemental.

----------------------------------------Division Tomato-------------------------------------------

"Welcome to my restaurant," said Tatiana. "RYOUGA, DO YOUR JOB!"

Ryouga shot a glare at Tatiana and handed Sierra and Salt menus. Then he waited, even though the only thing on the menu was curry.

"May I take your order?" asked Ryouga.

Sierra sniffed. "Something smells like peach…"

"Oh, that's my new shampoo!" said Ryouga happily. "It's actually peach _and cream_."

"RYOUGA, SHUT UP AND DO WHAT YOU'RE PAID FOR!" yelled Tatiana. She stood right next to him on a stool.

Ryouga closed his eyes and tried to remain calm. His ears were ringing. "That tyrant…" he muttered.

"_What_ did you just say?" asked Tatiana.

"Uh…fire hydrant?" said Ryouga.

"Oh. Um…okay," said Tatiana.

"You don't even pay me!" said Ryouga.

"Shut up!" said Tatiana sharply.

"Uh, I want to order curry," said Sierra.

"Okay one second—GEDHARM, MAKE CURRY!" yelled Tatiana.

"We hear you, stop yelling!" said Gedharm. "I moved the kitchen to the front remember?"

Gedharm pointed to his kitchen-on-wheels. "This way the customers can see me cook for entertainment instead of listening to Nina Nina's singing!"

"I-is my singing bad?" stuttered Nina Nina, dropping her ghostly pink microphone.

"It's horrible," said Black Swordsman, leaning against a wall. "I wore these ear plugs but I still can't block that _noise_."

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" said Nina Nina, now crying.

"Quit your sniveling!" snapped Tatiana. "And Gedharm, why would they want to see you cook? You're an eyesore!"

Ryouga gasped. "Ouch. You should use a better shampoo, Gedharm."

"This isn't about hair, Ryouga!" shouted Gedharm. "At least I look better than Nina Nina sings!"

"Well, that's true…" said Tatiana.

"Gotta agree to that…" said the Black Swordsman.

"I concur," said Ryouga.

"Oooh, big word from Ryouga!" exclaimed Sierra.

Salt fidgeted. "I want sugar…"

Nina Nina was very miserable now. "I-I'll just go…somewhere…"

The door to the restaurant slammed open, and a wet and dripping Passeau entered. She was bleeding. "Some stupid summon creature attacked me on my way here. What's going on? Why does Nina Nina look half dead—oh wait, I did that."

Nina Nina cried louder and swept through Passeau and to Borgrim's cave.

"I hate it when she goes through me…" muttered Passeau. "Hey Gedharm, can I have some seafood curry? I'm _starved_."

"Sure thing," said Gedharm. "I'm done with Sierra's order. Here Ryouga."

Ryouga piled the food onto a plate and placed it in front of Sierra.

"_Finally!_ I'm so hungry…!" said Sierra. She dug in.

"Is there any sugar?" asked Salt.

"Oh no, a dissatisfied customer!" said Tatiana. "What would you like, Salt? I'll give you anything, anything! Just SMILE."

"SUGAAAR," moaned Salt.

"Sugar? Sugar? We don't have sugar! Someone buy sugar!" Tatiana started to hyperventilate.

"I'm on it!" said the Black Swordsman.

"SUGAAAAAAR," moaned Salt.

"OH NO, OH NO!" yelled Tatiana, breathing hard. "Hurry!"

The Black Swordsman ran out the door and to Blaire's house.

"Need…sugary…sweetness…." moaned Salt.

"Uh…uh…Ryouga, do something! Entertain him or her or whatever!" said Tatiana.

"What kind of kitchen doesn't have sugar?" remarked Passeau.

"It's a curry kitchen!" said Gedharm, coming to Tatiana's defense. "You don't make curry with _sugar!_"

"Of course Gedharm would know…" said Passeau, sighing.

"Hey Sierra…that bikini looks good on you," said Ryouga.

"Ryouga, FOCUS!" said Passeau and Tatiana together. Passeau sounded angry.

"Okay…Salt! How many Tatianas does it take to change a lightbulb?" tried Ryouga.

"SUGAR!" said Salt.

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"Who are you?" asked Orin. He was eating a big sandwich that he made himself since he wasn't doing anything today. "You look suspicious."

"I'm Gab—the Black Swordsman. And I need…sugar," said the Black Swordsman.

"Orin! Did someone come in? Is it the delivery dude?" asked Blaire coming down the stairs. He was disappointed when he saw the Black Swordsman. "………Oh."

"Sugar?" repeated Orin, ignoring his dad. "There's a bag right here." He took a bag out of a cabinet and was about to toss it to the Black Swordsman.

"Nooo!" yelled Blaire. It seemed to happen in slow motion: The bag was slowly thrown across the room as Blaire threw himself at it. He made contact and he and the bag fell to the floor. The bag opened and instead of sugar, a bunch of papers came out. Orin walked over and instead of helping his dad up, he picked up the papers. They were all filled with plots against him.

"Darn it," said Blaire. "Now I have to come up with new ones."

Orin looked through one page. "(Oh no, these are the same as my plots against Dad…Now I have to come up with new ones…)"

"Can I have sugar now?" asked the Black Swordsman, ruining the father-son moment.

"Oh yeah. Sure," said Orin. He picked up another bag of sugar because they had a whole cabinet full of them.

"Before you go, wanna see where Sierra hides the Daemon Edges?" asked Blaire

"Sure!" said the Black Swordsman.

Blaire led the Black Swordsman to Sierra's workshop and showed him her pillow, where the Daemon Edges were hidden under.

"I don't know what you'll do with that information and you look very suspicious, but what the heck!" said Blaire. Blaire and Orin shared a good laugh.

"Ah…ha…ha…" said the Black Swordsman awkwardly.

Then the Black Swordsman took the sugar and ran out, hoping that his speed was quick enough for Salt and Tatiana.

--------------------------------------Division Tomato-----------------------------------------

"I'm back!" said the Black Swordsman. He held up the bag of sugar triumphantly.

Everyone in the restaurant tried as hard as possible to resist the urge to mob him.

"Quick, give it to Salt!" said Tatiana. She started to breathe easier.

"He's not breathing anymore," said Toumei.

"It's not fair…They're fussing over Salt more than me…" muttered Sierra. No one heard her.

The Black Swordsman gave it to Salt, but Salt wasn't even breathing.

"We need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!" exclaimed Gedharm.

Passeau ate her curry, not even participating in their chat anymore.

"But we don't even know what gender Salt is!" panicked Tatiana.

"That doesn't matter," said Ryouga.

"_Someone_ do it," said the Black Swordsman.

"I vote for the new guy!" said Tatiana.

"Me?" asked Toumei. "All I know about is Omyoji. I can't help."

"Salt's _dying!_" said Sierra loudly. "I'm gonna SUE."

"Oh no oh no oh no oh no!" chanted Tatiana. "SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"

"Gedharm, give me a spoon!" ordered the Black Swordsman.

Gedharm silently handed him a spoon. The Black Swordsman scooped sugar into it and put it into Salt's mouth. Salt coughed and swallowed, and then started to breathe again.

"You did it Black Swordsman!" said Gedharm.

"I didn't know you had medical experience," remarked Toumei.

"Tatiana, did you see that—Tatiana?" Ryouga frowned. Tatiana had fainted.

"Since Tatiana's down, I guess I'll have to write the bill," said the Black Swordsman lazily. He grabbed a paper from the front counter and quickly scribbled big numbers on it. Then he handed it to Sierra.

"TEN THOUSAND BOAM?" yelled Sierra.

"Plus a two thousand boam tip," added Ryouga.

Sierra slammed the money on the table. "Let's go, Salt."

They left the restaurant.

"You're our hero, Black Swordsman!" said Gedharm.

"Let's celebrate," said Toumei.

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It was getting dark, and time for their daily walk. Sierra and Salt had made new weapons, and Sierra's rank rose. She was now a 'Sort of Kind of Okay' Craftknight.

"I'm going to get more sugar—um, talk to the wind," said Salt.

"Bye Salt! Hmm…Sarin and Byron are in Subterranean Bay and Water Elemental stole Lyn's house. I have a feeling that the new Tatiana's Skilled guy is at the fish pond…"

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_End of Day VII_

_Talked with: Lynn_

Sierra walked to Goura's Gate, where a tent was suspiciously set up. A sign nearby said "LYNN'S TENT."

"Whose tent is that?" asked Sierra wonderingly.

"It's mine," said Lynn. She exited her tent. "I don't have a house any more, so…" She ducked back in her tent and then came out again holding a facial tissue. "It's so _sad_. My house…gone…A Water Elemental…in it…Ugly…no fashion sense...Oh my poor heart!" Lynn pretended to cry.

"Um…But you have a tent!" said Sierra brightly.

Lynn faked a sniff. "Yes…you're always looking on the bright side. That's what I like about you, Sierra."

"Yeeaah…" said Sierra, looking at Lynn weirdly.

"You know, it's really dark right now. Maybe if you kiss me I'll feel better," said Lynn.

"No thanks," said Sierra.

"Hehe. You're so shy," said Lynn. She ducked back inside her tent and put eyedrops in her eyes. When she came back out again, it looked like she was crying for real. "I feel so…miserable. You know what would make me feel _really_ better?"

"You're not talking about that kiss are you?" asked Sierra.

"Oh no, Sierra. No. This is _much_ better. You know those Daemon Edges? They're every camper's _dream_. They glow in the dark and are much more reliable than campfires. So what do you say, Sierra? Can you give me those lovely…Guren-reviving…Daemon Edges?" asked Lynn slyly.

"I'm sorry, but they're decorations for my room," said Sierra. "Maybe you should get a forge in your tent."

"Well…uh…." Lynn was speechless. "A……forge?"

"Yes! They're really bright! That's probably why I can hardly sleep at night…"

"A forge…In my…tent….?" said Lynn slowly.

"Yes!" said Sierra. "I hope it helps. Good night!"

Sierra left.

"Wow…A forge. What a stupid idea," said Lynn. Then she went into her tent and washed her face.


	8. Chapter 8: Day VIII

_Pointless Chatter: Vote please! And, this chapter's a bit rushed. I bet you can tell._

Chapter Eight: Day VIII

Sierra yawned. It was hard to sleep with two Daemon Edges under her pillow. "Hi Salt…" she said sleepily.

"Good morning, Sierra," said Salt absentmindedly. It was eating sugar again, having visited the kitchen a while back.

"I feel like making another weapon! But can you wash your hands, Salt? Yesterday's weapons were kinda sticky," said Sierra.

"But they give you a good grip!" complained Salt.

"It was _disgusting_ Salt!" replied Sierra.

"Okay…" Salt went upstairs and washed its hands. Or paws. Or whatever. Since no one knows exactly what Salt _is_.

They forged another weapon. When they were done forging, a metallic umbrella looking thing came out.

"Um…" said Sierra, staring at it.

"What is it, Sierra?" asked Salt.

"An…umbrella?" said Sierra. She picked it up and hit Salt with it. "It works!"

"Ow…" Salt nursed its broken nose.

Sierra's rank went back down to 'Just Horrible' because she didn't forge any of the generic weapon types.

Which was completely unfair because the weapon _was_ effective.

---------------------------------------------Division Tomato----------------------------------------

"Hi Sierra," said Ryouga. They were back at the curry restaurant. Sierra and Salt sat on a random table. "You want to order something?"

"No, we're here to watch Passeau today," said Sierra.

"She said she'll be here in a minute," said Gedharm.

"Where's Tatiana?" asked Salt.

"She hasn't recovered from yesterday yet," answered Toumei. "I tried singing an Omyoji chant for her, but she just yelled at me to shut up and then started to hyperventilate."

"She's still in shock," added the Black Swordsman.

"I'm HERE!" said Passeau, banging the door shut behind her. She was dragging an unconscious Villager with her. Nina Nina went through them and floated nearby.

"What are you doing here, Nina Nina?" asked Gedharm.

"I-I wanted my body back," said Nina Nina. "If it's not…any trouble…"

"Whatever!" said Passeau. "Okay…now what do I do…Hmm, actually, I only know how to steal bodies."

"What you need is SPIRIT," said Toumei. "If you have SPIRIT then you can do anything. SPIRIT!"

"Do ya have to yell out spirit all the time?" asked Passeau irritably. "How do I have something like _that_?"

"I'm a spirit…" said Nina Nina.

"Think about Ryouga!" said Sierra.

"Oh…um…" Passeau closed her eyes and started to think of marrying Ryouga.

"Oh no…" said Nina Nina. "What is she wearing on my body……?"

"You interrupted my thinking!" said Passeau angrily.

Nina Nina just stared at the striped rainbow dress that Passeau was wearing. "Oh my…That's so horrible that…I'm fading…."

Nina Nina's body started to flash on and off. Her arm faded out of existence.

"Hurry!" said Ryouga. "We'll lose a member of our team if you take too long!"

"Okay, okay, I'm_ trying!_" exclaimed Passeau.

"I'll help," said Toumei. "SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT—!"

"I can't concentrate with you shouting!" snapped Passeau.

"Hmph! You don't appreciate Omyoji's teachings, do you? DO YOU?" yelled Toumei.

Tatiana wandered into the room, looking sleepy. "I have a really bad headache. I was almost a failure yesterday! So everyone SHUT UP!" Then Tatiana went to her bedroom on the second floor of the restaurant again.

Nina Nina's right foot disappeared.

Passeau glowed, and then an orb of light came out of Nina Nina's body. The orb of light traveled in slow motion to Villager's body. Villager/Passeau sat up and then said, "I'M ALIVE!"

"Nina Nina, take your body back!" ordered Sierra.

"I don't like being told to do something…" whimpered Nina Nina. Then she turned into an orb of light herself. It went inside her body. Nina Nina also sat up. "I…I have a body again. Just when I was getting used to being a spirit…" she said sadly.

"Oh shut up," snapped Passeau. She quickly put her hair up in a bun and smiled sweetly at Ryouga.

A spirit of Villager emerged nearby. "Darn it. I don't have a body anymore."

"W-wow," stammered Ryouga. "You're _beautiful_ Passeau!"

"Of course I am!" said Passeau.

"Do you want to sabotage Sierra's quest for the third Daemon Edge with me?" asked Ryouga.

"Sure!" exclaimed Passeau.

Ryouga kissed Passeau and then they left the restaurant happily.

"Oh wait…" said Sierra. "We have to be looking for the Daemon Edge for them to do sabotage!"

"The wind says we should hurry to Bruno," said Salt.

Sierra and Salt left.

"We have a problem…" said the Black Swordsman.

"What?" asked Gedharm.

"Tatiana's out of commission, Ryouga and Passeau are eerily happy, and Nina Nina just fell asleep. We hardly have any workers and there's going to a wedding today!" panicked the Black Swordsman.

"I'm an Omyoji priest so…" said Toumei.

"So…it's just me and you, Gedharm," said the Black Swordsman.

"But I'm the chef…_just me?" _said Gedharm.

The Black Swordsman shrugged. "Actually this isn't any different from before."

"True…Make sure Tatiana stays out of the way. The _last_ thing we need is her constant yelling," said Gedharm.

"I'll do it with my SPIRIT," said Toumei.

---------------------------------------------Division Tomato------------------------------------------

"Hi Tatiana," greeted Toumei. "I'm here to…uh…no matter what I say, it'll sound suspicious so, SPIRIT!"

"Toumei, you're an idiot," snapped Tatiana. "I need something for my headache and YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"

"I know!" said Toumei brightly. "I'll find a sword and exorcise the headache from you!"

"What_ever_. Just do it quick!" ordered Tatiana.

"Where am I going to find a sword?" asked Toumei.

Tatiana grabbed a nearby spatula and threw it at Toumei. Yes, she had a spatula in her bedroom. It also had her name engraved in it! Oh, the wonders of technology…

Toumei fell backward. _Such force_ from the cute lil' bundle of energy.

"Fine," grumbled Toumei. "I'll look for the sword _myself_. I daresay I have enough SPIRIT to do that."

----------------------------------------Division Tomato----------------------------------------

"So this is Glacier Gorge," droned Bruno. "It's a great place for skiing, snow tubing, and ice-skating. In fact, there was a figure-skating tournament not too long ago here. The Dungeon Dude won I believe. Actually that's a lie. He was dead last. By the way, this place used to be famous for hot chocolate but then it got sued big time and now it's practically empty. I hid the Daemon Edge here so that if I ever had to get it back I could just drink some hot chocolate on the way—almost as good as Summonite Gems you know—so too bad it's out of business. Oh well…" Bruno turned to the pillar that the Dungeon Dude always seemed to post on. "The Dungeon Dude wrote that. Maybe you should give it a read."

Here's what it said:

_I should've won! The whole thing was rigged, RIGGED. My skating routine was perfect, and since there are so many frozen ponds here, I practically owned on every single one of them! But somehow I ended up in last place. I was supposed to receive a commemorative prize of a life-time supply of hot chocolate but those loser judges didn't give it to me. But don't worry, I got back. Oh yes, I sued the company. And now I'm rich! MUAHAHAHA! I know exactly how I'll spend my money! I'll go to that Cliff Village place, marry the girl that my arch-nemesis—the chief—has his eyes on, and stand in front of the fish pond for the rest of my life! MUAHAHAHAHA! Dungeon Dude, signing out._

"I don't get it," said Sierra.

Salt tugged at Sierra's clothes. "My ice cream froze…"

"Mine too…Wonder why…" said Sierra.

"The temperature's below zero in Fahrenheit," Bruno informed them. "You two better run along now. I'm going to stay here and utilize my amazing internal heating system."

-----------------------------------------Division Tomato--------------------------------------------

"Black Swordsman! Where can I find SPIRIT—I mean, SPIRIT, a sword?" asked Toumei.

"A sword? I have a sword," said the Black Swordsman.

"Can I have it? You'll never see it again if you give it to me," said Toumei.

"How come? Are you threatening to kidnap my sword?" asked the Black Swordsman flatly.

"I'm going to exorcise Tatiana's headache with it. And then I'm going to hoard your sword," explained Toumei.

"Oh. Yeah okay. Here," said the Black Swordsman understandingly. He threw his sword at Toumei.

Toumei ducked. "Are you trying to KILL me?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" asked the Black Swordsman.

"I'm going to silently defy you with my spirit. SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT—!"

---------------------------------------Division Tomato------------------------------------------

"Look! Evil summoners!" said An Eskimo Kid.

"She's so pretty…" said Another Eskimo Kid.

"Um, dude? You there?" asked An Eskimo Kid, waving his hand in front of Another Eskimo Kid's face.

Another Eskimo Kid was blushing. "Do you think she'll like me if I offered her sweet potatoes?"

"No," said An Eskimo Kid honestly. He bent down and made a snowball, then threw it at Sierra.

Sierra made a muffling sound as the snowball made contact with her mouth. She accidentally swallowed it. Then she marched up to An Eskimo Kid and Another Eskimo Kid.

"What was THAT for?" asked Sierra.

She walked closer to Another Eskimo Kid.

Another Eskimo Kid's face got redder.

Sierra threw a snowball at Another Eskimo Kid.

"Hahaha! They're funny for evil summoners!" An Eskimo Kid laughed at Another Eskimo Kid, who looked like he was in heaven. He was thinking something along the lines of, _'That beautiful evil summoner just hit me with a snowball! I'm never washing my face ever again!'_

An Eskimo Kid threw a snowball at Sierra and then grabbed Another Eskimo Kid and ran out of view before Sierra could counterattack.

"Darn it…" muttered Sierra.

------------------------------------Division Tomato------------------------------------------------

There were three summoners standing suspiciously near a red triangle. The girl was named Amer, the guy with the glasses was named…well, his name has been forgotten but he shall be called Magnus. The _other_ guy was named Nesty.

Amer shivered. "D-do y-you t-think t-that th-they're st-still f-following u-us?"

"I _told_ you that you should've brought a jacket," reprimanded Magnus. He looked at her disapprovingly. She was wearing a thin top with no sleeves and her belly button showing, and a mini skirt. She wore flip flops on her feet.

"Y-you t-told m-me th-that w-we were g-going to t-the b-beach!" accused Amer.

"This is the beach," said Nesty.

The other two stared at him incredulously.

"Uh, isn't it?" he said nervously.

Amer sighed. "Y-you've g-got t-to b-be k-kidding m-me."

Footsteps.

Magnus's head jerked towards the direction where the sound of the footsteps were coming from. "Oh no, they caught up to us! I thought we threw them off!"

"N-Nesty, th-that j-jacket l-looks s-so w-warm. W-why d-don't y-you g-give it t-to m-me?" asked Amer, teeth chattering.

"Focus, Amer!" barked Magnus.

It was Sierra and Salt.

"Amer, get off of me!" said Nesty, a little frightened. Amer was trying to claw the jacket off with her frozen fingers.

"Ha. Ha. My jacket's a lot warmer than that fool's," said Magnus.

"B-but y-you're u-ugly. I'd d-die if I t-touched y-you!" said Amer.

"Ouch," said Nesty for Magnus.

"Um…" said Sierra, trying to get their attention.

"Yes?" asked Magnus.

"I met these Eskimo kids and they're like, talkin' about some evil summoner people things, and like, you three look suspicious so…are you evil?" asked Sierra.

"W-warmth!" exclaimed Amer. She tackled Salt.

"Aaaah! That's my fur!" shrieked Salt.

"Magnus…" whimpered Nesty. "Amer's manicured fingers clawed through my SKIN! I'm bleeding!" Nesty pointed to red marks on his torn jacket.

Magnus shrugged. "At least she's not going through sweet potato withdrawal now."

"Sweet potatoes?" asked Amer, letting go of Salt. "WHERE?"

"Relax, Amer. I want them just as much as you," said Magnus. "Anyway, we're not evil. We're just…misunderstood."

"Yeah! But how do we know that YOU'RE not an evil summoner?" asked Nesty, pointing wildly at Sierra.

"Well obviously she isn't," said Magnus, sticking his nose in the air. "She's got blue hair and _everyone_ knows that blue-heads can't summon anything!"

"I didn't know that…" muttered Nesty.

"That's because you're a freak," said Magnus. "So why are you here, o' blue-head?"

"Um, do you mean me?" asked Sierra.

"Y-you're th-the o-only o-one w-with bl-blue h-hair," pointed out Amer. "Oh c-cookie, y-you're as st-stupid as N-Nesty." She went back to tackling Salt.

"Yeah. You and Nesty would make a great couple," agreed Magnus.

"What are we talking about?" asked Nesty, who was busy trying to bandage his wounded arms.

"Dunno. Something about the color blue," said Sierra. "Anyway, I'm looking for a super shiny sword to match the other two swords in my room! Did you four happen to see one anywhere 'round here?"

"Um, Sierra? The wind says that there are three of them," pointed out Salt.

"Oh…I thought there were five…" murmured Nesty.

"J-just sh-shut u-up N-Nesty," snapped Amer.

Salt whimpered as blood started to appear on its body. Amer was digging into it with her sharp fingernails for extra warmth. "Help Sierra!"

Sierra slammed Amer with her umbrella thing. Unfortunately, since Amer was on Salt, she slammed both of them down. Now Salt was bleeding even more.

"O-ouch!" exclaimed Amer.

"Amer's not going to get off of you," said Magnus gravely. "The only way is to get your hands on some of them sweet potatoes. You know, those tasty morsels of heaven that place an enchantment of such utter deliciousness that you can't help but eat some more of those irresistible rich treats until you're so full that you're ready to burst, yet you still reach for one more for your mouth to enter a truly blissful period in the space-time continuum, thus defying the laws of physics and throwing you into a dream sequence where you dream of eating sweet potatoes all day, every day, but that doesn't last long because then you swallow and you feel like doing it all over again."

"Duuude, I really want some sweet potatoes right now, even though I didn't understand a single thing Magnus just said," said Nesty, drooling.

"I-I w-want s-sweet p-potatoes…" said Amer. She drooled all over Salt, which made a grotesque mixture of blood and saliva.

"Ewwww," exclaimed Sierra.

Salt whimpered some more.

"Wait a sec…" said Sierra. "Where am I supposed to find some freakin' sweet potatoes in the middle of this icy ski place slash ex-hot chocolate business company thing?"

"Um…" Magnus, Amer, and Nesty exchanged nervous glances.

"We…could tell you why we came here," said Magnus.

"But you can't tell anyone. Can you keep a secret?" asked Nesty.

"Not really," said Sierra.

"That's good enough!" said Magnus. "Okay, so we came here because sweet potatoes are the local delicacy. Y'see, there are a bunch of Eskimos that started to infest this place a while back, ever since the hot chocolate company got sued. These Eskimos hid their igloo-filled village somewhere around here, and we're trying to find them so that we can eat all their sweet potatoes. Trouble is, it's pretty well hidden."

"So…you're all sweet potato addicts?" asked Sierra, disgusted.

"Th-then wh-why'd y-you t-tell m-me th-that w-we w-were g-going t-to t-the b-beach?" asked Amer.

Magnus shrugged. "I thought it was funny."

"It'd kinda suck if Salt died because of Amer so I'll find this village for you," said Sierra.

Amer started to shake. Salt groaned under her weight and extra movement.

"Oh no," said Magnus in an uncaring voice. "She's going through sweet potato withdrawal."

"We might get that soon too," pointed out Nesty. "But anyway, we can't find the village yet. I lost my guardian beast. Um. Somewhere. And…yeah. I probably should find him. He wants sweet potatoes too."

"What's his name?" asked Sierra.

Nesty stared at the ground. "I…don't remember?"

Amer sighed. "H-his n-name i-is B-Bulrell."

"Oh yeah. That," agreed Nesty.

"We're going to follow you at a distance while you find Bulrell and the village," said Magnus. "Since Amer is stuck to your guardian beast, she'll still be next to you."

"K-Kekekekekeke," laughed Amer evilly.

Sierra shrugged as Magnus and Nesty hurriedly walked twenty feet behind her.

--------------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------------

"So, I hear you got another divorce?" asked Bulrell to a wolf summon creature. It nodded. Another wolf summon creature patted it sympathetically. Another Eskimo Kid hid behind Bulrell, frightened.

"Oh, grow some backbone, will ya?" snapped Bulrell. "Seriously. These things wouldn't hurt a fly!"

A fly summon creature started to fly around one of the wolf summon creatures. The wolf summon creature opened its mouth and ate it.

Another Eskimo Kid cowered.

"So anyway, where were we? Oh yeah. Do you want her back?" asked Bulrell.

The wolf summon creature shook his head and howled.

"You killed her already? That was quick," commented Bulrell.

Another Eskimo Kid started to cry.

Bulrell shrugged as the other wolf summon creature growled. "Sorry, can't shut up the kid. And I won't let you guys hurt him because I need to hold him hostage for a high sweet potato ransom from his village."

A wolf summon creature howled again.

"That's a mighty generous offer, but please don't steal some sweet potatoes for me. I'm already in enough trouble with my posse as it is," admitted Bulrell. "We're in trouble with the law and wanted in thirty eight and a half villages, three cities, and nine and three quarters towns. Oh yeah, and four counties. I don't want to be thrown into jail again, but I don't care about the rest of my clique slash posse slash gang."

The wolf summon creatures backed away.

"What do you mean you don't hang out with criminals? You just killed your ex!" exclaimed Bulrell.

Another Eskimo Kid fainted in terror.

The wolf summon creatures howled in unison.

"It is NOT different!" shouted Bulrell.

The wolf summon creatures shook their head and shot Bulrell a look that said 'Tsk, tsk, tsk….tsk.' Then they scurried away in disgust.

----------------------------------------Division Claws-----------------------------------------

"All set!" exclaimed Passeau. She and Ryouga had set up bunch of obvious traps near the third Daemon Edge. Nets, pits, bananas, and other such traps were clearly visible.

"Great! Now let's hide behind this bush I brought from Entry Woods, love," said Ryouga. A large green bush that didn't go with the white backdrop of Glacier Gorge lay suspiciously near the sword.

"Oh _Ryouga_," whispered Passeau. "How romantic!"

"Uh, right," said Ryouga. He and Passeau hid behind the bush.

"Come closer Ryouga…" murmured Passeau.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF BOSTON CRÈME DONUTS!" shrieked Ryouga. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Passeau blinked. Then she realized that her bun came undone. She muttered under her breath as she styled her hair once more.

"Oh my heart…" said Ryouga, clutching his chest. "For a second there, it looked like some monster replaced you."

"Uhh….it was your…imagination?" said Passeau. She giggled nervously.

"I sure hope so. Hey, you're using strawberry scented shampoo aren't you?" asked Ryouga.

"Sure am."

----------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------------

"Bulrell!"

"Nesty!"

"Bulrell!"

"Nesty!"

"Bulrell!"

"Nesty!"

Yup, Sierra, Salt, and the suspicious summoners had arrived and found Bulrell. Another Eskimo Kid was still unconscious.

"Hate to break up the tearful reunion or whatever, but…can we move _on_?" asked Sierra impatiently.

"So, what's been going on while I was out?" asked Bulrell. "Anything interesting?"

"Amer won't let go of this kid's guardian beast," said Magnus. "If we don't do something quick, he slash she slash it will die."

"Wow, that's some gender confusion there," commented Bulrell. "I've got just the thing though. I kidnapped this Eskimo Kid, and I'm holding him hostage for a ransom of sweet potatoes. You dig?"

"N-no o-one s-says th-that a-anymore," commented Amer.

"I think we should hurry…" said Sierra, throwing a concerned glance in Salt's direction. Amer waved.

"Muahahahahaha!" laughed Magnus evilly. "Now we have an evil plot for more sweet potatoes!"

"Soon we'll suck the whole WORLD dry of is sweet potatoes!" continued Nesty.

"Muahahahahahaha!" laughed Magnus evilly.

"Guhuhuhuhuhuhu!" laughed Nesty evilly.

"K-kekekekekekeke!" laughed Amer evilly.

"Bwohohohohohoho!" laughed Bulrell evilly.

Another Eskimo Kid woke up because of all the evil laughter. Then he turned red when he noticed Sierra.

"The wind says…that…the kid's…awake…" said Salt weakly.

"Where's the hidden Eskimo Village?" asked Nesty.

"That's actually a smart question, coming from Nesty," said Magnus, marveling.

"A-ask th-the E-Eskimo K-kid," suggested Amer.

"Okay," said Sierra. "Hey, Eskimo Kid! Tell me where the village is or I'll throw a snowball at you!"

Another Eskimo Kid just stared at her, dazed and completely flushed. He was lost in his own world.

"A quiet one, huh," commented Bulrell.

"What should we do now?" asked Sierra.

"I…have an…idea…" said Salt weakly. "Once…when I…was…walking at night…"

-----------------------------------------Division Claws---------------------------------------

Get ready—FLASHBACK!

"These summon creatures are so _boring!_" whined Rocky. He and the girl next to him, now identified as Kara, sat in the Wind Fortress, determined to get the summon creatures there to do _something_. Anything.

Salt watched from a window.

Kara kicked a summon creature. It held up a sign that showed a musical note symbol.

Kara threw a rock at it. It held the same sign up.

Kara bit it. It still held up the sign.

"Nothing's working," complained Kara.

"I know," said Rocky sadly. "I gave one my autograph and it still didn't do anything different."

"You have a horrible voice, Rocky," said Kara suddenly. "Why don't you try singing to it?"

"Okay!" said Rocky enthusiastically.

"_Laaaaaaaaaaaalaaaalaaaaaaaa_"

The summon creatures shriveled. One of them yelled, "SHUT UP!"

Rocky blinked. Then he ran out of the Wind Fortress crying, "My mommy says she likes my singing!"

Salt too, ran away from the now broken window and tried to forget the dreadful noise.

END FLASHBACK

-------------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------------

"So we should sing to him?" asked Sierra.

Salt nodded weakly.

"I-I c-can't s-sing. M-my t-teeth a-are ch-chattering t-too m-much," said Amer.

"Me and Bulrell are thinking types," said Nesty as his excuse.

Magnus snorted. "It's Bulrell and _I_."

"Whatever!...Nerd," said Nesty.

Magnus threw a snowball at Nesty, with a rock inside.

Nesty growled and punched Magnus.

Magnus whimpered.

Anyway.

"I-If M-Magnus s-sang, t-the E-Eskimo K-Kid m-might d-die," said Amer. "U-us t-too."

"So that just leaves…me and Salt! But…I'm too thirsty to sing. I could use some hot chocolate right now…So it's just you Salt!" said Sierra cheerfully.

"I'll…do…my best…" said Salt.

"Wait, do you dudes and dudette have any sugar with you? Maybe Salt won't talk so slow if you do," said Sierra.

"Oooh….sugar…" said Salt.

"My sword's made of sugar!" said Nesty.

"Great!" said Sierra. She snatched away his sword and handed it to Salt. Salt swallowed it whole.

"SUGAR!" exclaimed Salt. "Thanks Sierra, I have energy again. Okay, I'll sing."

"_The wind spreads pollen that makes people sneeze,_

_The wind can mess up all kinds of styles of hair,_

_The wind causes all kinds of rips and tear….s,_

_The wind summons up a storm that can upturn houses and streets_

_The wind can be so dangerous that it's quite a feat!"_

Sierra wiped a tear from her eye. "That rhyming was amazing!"

"Thanks Sierra! Oh…now I feel…weak again…" said Salt weakly.

"We'll get Amer off of you soon," said Sierra.

The Another Eskimo Kid snapped out of his daydream of a romance with Sierra. "Hi…"

"It talked!" exclaimed Magnus. "I must document this moment!"

"Can you tell us where the Eskimo Village is, kid?" asked Bulrell.

"Are you going to do something evil?" asked Another Eskimo Kid.

Amer, Nesty, Magnus, and Bulrell exchanged nervous glances.

Finally, Amer said, "Y-yes."

"Okay! Follow this path till you see a big suspicious rock, then take two lefts, three rights, and another left till you reach a big wooden ramp. Follow it, take a right, and the village is right there," said Another Eskimo Kid.

"Thanks!" said Sierra.

-----------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------

"Never fear, Tatiana!" exclaimed Toumei. "I have the exorcism sword!"

"Hurry up," snapped Tatiana.

"SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT SPIRIT!" yelled Toumei.

"Oh great, now it's worse. You're completely useless, you know that Toumei?" said Tatiana.

"Give it a minute," said Toumei.

Sixty-three seconds later.

"I…feel better!" said Tatiana. She glanced at Toumei incredulously. "Wow! You were three seconds off though."

"Is thanks in your vocabulary?" asked Toumei curiously.

"Shut up! Now go downstairs and get to work! I'll be there in a minute!" yelled Tatiana.

----------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------------

"Oh no, the Sweet Potato Fiends!" whispered Eskimo Villager.

"What do they want with us?" whispered Eskimo Villager.

"Obviously they're after our sweet potatoes," snapped Eskimo Villager.

"We're DOOMED," shrieked Eskimo Villager.

"Take us to your leader!" ordered Magnus. "And get me a band-aid!"

"Uh…sorry about that Magnus," said Nesty. Magnus's nose was still bleeding.

A few moments later, Grand Eskimo stood before them. Grand Eskimo wore the grandest Eskimo attire in the village, and just looked grander than everyone else.

"Yo," said Grand Eskimo.

"You the leader?" asked Bulrell.

"S'up?" asked Grand Eskimo.

"I kidnapped this Eskimo Kid. If you don't give us sweet potatoes, you'll never see him again," threatened Bulrell.

"Muahahahahaha," laughed Magnus evilly.

"Bwohohohohohoho," laughed Bulrell evilly.

"Guhuhuhuhuhuhuh," laughed Nesty evilly.

"K-Kekekekekekeke," laughed Amer evilly.

Grand Eskimo nodded gravely. "We don't really care about Another Eskimo Kid, but his dad _does_ pay the highest taxes in the village. So we'll give you all the sweet potatoes you desire."

"AWESOME!" yelled Nesty.

"We'll expect you in the dining table at the middle of our village in about five seconds," said Grand Eskimo.

-------------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------

Nina Nina woke up in the dreadful rainbow dress. She shrieked.

"You're awake," said the Black Swordsman. "About time."

"You know…now that I have my body back, I'm feeling a lot more confident in myself…" said Nina Nina.

"Great," said Gedharm. "But we still don't like you."

Nina Nina held back tears. "Never mind…" she said miserably.

"Oh yeah, I brought your clone thing that Ryouga built you," said the Black Swordsman. "It's pretty cool. I pressed a button on it. Apparently it was set on 'Shriek' so that's what it kept doing when I found it at Borgrim's cave."

"Oh…thank you for bringing it," said Nina Nina politely.

"It only has two settings," said the Black Swordsman. "Shriek and 'Insult Nina Nina.' Heh, I see where Ryouga was going with this." The Black Swordsman put it on the latter setting.

"You're a loser, Nina Nina," said Nina Nina's clone.

"B-but…" managed Nina Nina.

"No one likes you, Nina Nina," said Nina Nina's clone.

"You know what? Now that I have a body, I don't CARE anymore!" yelled Nina Nina. She kicked the clone and it broke.

The Black Swordsman and Gedharm backed away.

"That was made out of really hard steel…" whispered Gedharm.

"Maybe if we ignore her she'll become miserable again," said the Black Swordsman.

"I'm ANGRY. FURIOUS. LIVID! I'm going to Borgrim's cave to BREAK random things!" yelled Nina Nina. She left the restaurant.

"Dude…she's a freak," said Gedharm.

The Black Swordsman looked out a window and gulped. "She's still bad at directions too. She's headed towards Sierra's house!"

-------------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------------------

Amer climbed off of Salt. "You know, Nesty, Magnus, and Bulrell. It's really nice here and they said they never run out of sweet potatoes. We should just LIVE here!"

"You're not shivering anymore," commented Bulrell.

"Yeah," said Amer. "The sweet potatoes are so awesome that I'm not cold anymore!"

"Salt, can you walk?" asked Sierra.

"Yes," said Salt.

"Okay, let's find the Daemon Edge," said Sierra. "Bye everyone!"

"Later," said Amer. "So anyway, about our new igloo…"

----------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------------

"I see it I see it I see it I see it I see it!" chanted Salt. "The wind sees it too!"

The Daemon Edge was clearly visible, along with all the traps.

Ryouga and Passeau snickered behind the bush.

Sierra walked straight. The traps weren't leading to the sword in a straight line, which meant that she avoided all of them because Ryouga and Passeau put the traps everywhere else.

Sierra pulled out the sword. "THIS IS SO SHINY AND AWESOME!"

"This is all your fault, Passeau!" said Ryouga. He stood up. "Do something!"

Passeau stood up too. "It was your idea to put the traps there," she argued. "Anyway, I know just the thing." She summoned a big blanket which engulfed Sierra and Salt.

"I can't see!" said Sierra's muffled voice from underneath the blanket.

"Now what do we do?" asked Passeau.

Ryouga shrugged. "Let's go back to the curry restaurant."

"Okay," said Passeau.

Passeau and Ryouga left.

With a tremendous display of strength, Sierra heaved the blanket off of her and Salt's bodies. Then she realized that Salt had fainted from blood loss, and dragged it all the way back to Bruno.

---------------------------------------------Division Claws-----------------------------------------

Nina Nina stormed into Blaire's house, still angry from all the events. Except now, she was also feeling sad for destroying the present that Ryouga gave her. When she realized that she had reached Blaire's house, she was absolutely miserable because she is very bad at directions. All this just meant that she was sad, miserable, and angry.

"Um, hi?" said Orin. He was just about to throw a dead fish down the trapdoor underneath the dining table. He hid the fish behind his back as Nina Nina came in.

Nina Nina sniffed. "I meant to go to Borgrim's cave…"

"Well, you went the complete wrong direction," said Orin bluntly. "You suck."

"That's so rude! Why is everyone so mean to meeee? I hate people…" whined Nina Nina.

Suddenly Blaire ran down the stairs. "Did someone come? Is it the delivery dude?" Then he saw Nina Nina. "……………………………Oh."

"Ugh! No one is even happy to see me!" said Nina Nina angrily.

"Weren't you always miserable and stuff?" asked Orin. "I liked that better. It was easier to make fun of you."

"When I got my body back, I remembered how to be angry and have a slightly higher self confidence," explained Nina Nina.

"You still suck," said Orin. "Anyway, why do you keep asking for the delivery guy, dad?"

"For…uh…cough…medicine?" lied Blaire.

Orin snorted. "Likely…"

"Oh yeah? What are you doing with that dead fish, son?" asked Blaire.

"Um…uh…to feed…uh…Graham's Ghost?" lied Orin.

Blaire snorted. "Likely…"

There was an awkward silence.

Orin dropped the fish down the trapdoor, and a loud chomping noise was heard.

"What…was that?" asked Nina Nina.

"You're better off not knowing," said Orin mysteriously. "I also don't feel like telling you."

"Who is she anyway?" asked Blaire, forgetting about the fish.

"I'm Nina Nina…a summoner…and stuff," said Nina Nina.

Orin stood up. "A summoner? Like, a real one? Can you actually summon anything? That is so COOL!"

Blaire stared at him. "You sound like Sierra…"

"I can summon food," said Nina Nina.

That piqued Blaire's interest. "Food? Like, real food? That actually tastes good? Can I HIRE you?"

"You mean you'll give me MONEY?" asked Nina Nina excitedly. "When can I get started?"

"Now!" said Orin and Blaire together. They were _starving_ because Tatiana had left.

"What do you guys want?" asked Nina Nina.

"Baked ziti and garlic bread, with two slices of cheesecake for dessert," said Blaire.

"Lasagna and mozzarella sticks with extra marinara sauce…and a donut," said Orin.

A pinkish orb of light appeared near Nina Nina, and the said food items appeared on the dining table.

"You are AWESOME Nina Nina!" exclaimed Orin.

"You're so much better than Tatiana!" exclaimed Blaire. "In fact, she doesn't even live here anymore so you can take her room and be our summoner slash chef from now on!"

"Yay!" said Nina Nina happily. "I feel _wanted_!"

----------------------------------------------Division Claws-------------------------------------------

Grand Eskimo and the other Eskimos stared at their empty sweet potato warehouses in utter shock. Then they brought their attention to the Sweet Potato Fiends.

"You _ate_ all our sweet potatoes?" managed Grand Eskimo. "We had enough for another twenty years!"

"We were hungry," said Bulrell with a shrug.

"It was soooo yummy!" exclaimed Amer.

"But now there isn't any left…" said Magnus sadly. "Where will we go now?"

"What are we going to _do_?" asked Grand Eskimo in a panic. "We have nothing else to eat!"

"Let's grab torches and pitchforks and chase the Sweet Potato Fiends out!" suggested an Eskimo.

"Good idea! GET THEM!" yelled Grand Eskimo, holding a flaming torch and pitchfork that was conveniently placed near him.

"Amer, distract them while Bulrell, Magnus, and me run!" said Nesty quickly.

Amer smacked Nesty.

"It's Bulrell, Magnus, and _I_," corrected Magnus.

--------------------------------------Division Claws---------------------------------------------------

"Hey Bruno? Bruno? BRUNO? I didn't know robots could sleep! Why are you sleeping? OH NO! SALT'S BLEEDING ON MY SHOES! I JUST BOUGHT THESE! BRUNO HURRY AND WAKE UP! AAHHH!" yelled Sierra.

"Morning," said Bruno with a mechanical yawn. "What's up?"

"Salt ruined my shoes!" whined Sierra.

"What's your shoe size? I might have just the thing for you," said Bruno.

"Six," answered Sierra.

Bruno opened a compartment. "All I have are these aquamarine sneakers. Hey! They sorta kinda in a way just because they're blue match your hair!"

"NICE!" Sierra grabbed it from the compartment and put the new shoes on.

"We need to hurry and get back to Cliff Village. There's a wedding in about an hour," said Bruno.

"Sarin's and Byron's?" asked Sierra.

"Yeah," confirmed Bruno. "They're really excited. The whole village is invited, including Water Elemental. Actually, I lied. Lynn's not invited, but no one really cares."

Suddenly, Amer, Nesty, and Magnus ran into view. Oh, and Bulrell because I forgot about him. A mob of Eskimos followed, but were quite a distance behind due to the Sweet Potato Fiend's sweet potato-induced speed.

Bruno started to transcript the moment they came, and so everyone was transcripted to the village.

"Where are we?" asked Magnus.

"Finally! It's not so cold anymore!" said Amer happily.

"This is Cliff Village. There are no need for introductions. I'll just call all four of you A through D. The girl's A, the dude with the glasses is B, the stupid looking one is C, and the summon creature is D. I have to dress up for the wedding right now. A through D are invited too. See you," said Bruno. He transcripted to the Ruins.

"Huh," said A. "Maybe we should settle down here. I'm tired of moving around all the time."

"But what if there are no sweet potatoes?" asked C fearfully.

"Tatiana's restaurant probably has that covered," said Sierra helpfully.

"We'll have to check the accuracy of that statement…" said B thoughtfully.

"Wait! Amer, what about that kid's guardian beast? You practically totaled it," brought up D.

"Um…what do you want me to do about that?" asked A.

"You three are summoners…You should be able to do something about it," said D.

A through C looked at each other, and then laughed.

"I can only summon textbooks," said B.

"I don't even remember what I summon!" said C.

"You summon doors, stupid. And I summon cleaning supplies," finished A.

"Oh yeah, I forgot how useless the three of you were," mused D. "Well…I do know a healing spell, but…I'll have to fight my laziness…You can't go to a wedding looking like _that_, you'd just scare away the bride and groom so……" D pulled off a flashy healing spell.

Salt was healed.

"SALT! You're, like, alive and stuff!" said Sierra happily. "Thanks Bulrell or D or whatever!"

"No problem," said D.

"Let's go hide the Daemon Edge, Salt!" exclaimed Sierra. She tugged Salt along to their house.

"So……If we DO live here, don't we need a house?" asked B.

"Did I hear someone needing a house? I happen to need roommates!" said Water Elemental. He jumped out from behind a boulder that was not there yesterday. "There's this one lady, Lynn I think her name is, that keeps trying to be my roommate, but I have to reject her constantly. She's just not cool enough. So how about it?"

"Sure!" said A through D together.

---------------------------------------------Division Claws------------------------------------------

"Okay, done," said Sierra.

Right after Sierra placed the Daemon Edge underneath her pillow, there was a big CRASH.

"What was that?" asked Salt.

"Oh, it was probably not important," said Sierra.

Someone was coming down the steps leading to their workshop. It was the Black Swordsman.

"Uh, you weren't supposed to BE here right now…" said the Black Swordsman awkwardly. His radio played evil sounding music.

"What are you trying to do?" asked Sierra.

"Well…uh, I was going to steal the Daemon Edges, but this sort of complicates things," said the Black Swordsman. He tried to smile nervously but failed horribly.

"Do you want me an' Salt to hide behind the forge while you do your evil plot?" asked Sierra.

"It's nice and dark there!" piped up Salt.

"Uh, that'd be nice…" said the Black Swordsman.

Sierra and Salt hid behind the forge.

The Black Swordsman attempted a cackle but failed that too.

Pretty soon, the Daemon Edges were gone, and so was the Black Swordsman.

Sierra and Salt came out from behind the forge.

"Oh no," said Sierra, as if she was reading off of a paper. "The Daemon Edges. They are gone."

"Whatever will we do?" asked Salt, sounding the same way.

"Why did the Black Swordsman not wait till we had four?" asked Sierra.

"Why did the wind not warn me?" asked Salt.

"So…now what?" asked Sierra, sounding normal again.

Salt shrugged. "Maybe we should get the Daemon Edges back."

They looked at each other, then both said, "_Nah_."

"Then let's give the Sweet Potato Fiends a friendly neighborly present!" suggested Salt. "The wind says that they live at Water Elemental's house now."

"Awesome! Lead the way," said Sierra.

--------------------------------------------Division Claws-------------------------------------------

"No, Sierra! That's the wrong way!" exclaimed Salt, but Sierra ignored it. "That's the way to the Entry Woods! The wind says so too! See, the wind's trying to push you back! Shwoooooo!"

"Um, Salt, why are you blowing on me?" asked Sierra. But she didn't wait for an answer. She kept going the same way.

"Hi Sierra!" said Villager, who stands by the gate, in a friendly tone. "Oh wait. I just remembered. I'm supposed to hate you. Uhh….Let's try that again. Could you walk by me again please?"

"Okay," said Sierra.

She walked by Villager again.

"Sierra! I don't like you!" said Villager, trying to keep that friendly tone out of his voice. Even though he's very good at sounding mean at town meetings. Hmm.

"H-huh? Why are you being so _mean_?" asked Sierra.

"Because!" Villager turned around and took a post-it out of his pocket. It said, '_Hate Sierra because she had the Daemon Edges stolen from her and stuff.'_ "You had the Daemon Edges stolen from you and stuff!"

"So?" asked Sierra.

Villager started to sweat. Sierra was putting too much pressure on him. "Um…Um…Getting stuff stolen from you is BAD!"

Salt gasped. "You're a BAD person, Sierra!"

"I am? Oh no! What have I DONE?" wailed Sierra.

"Phew…" said Villager, wiping sweat from his brow. "That was a close one…"

"What should I do what should I do what should I DO?" asked Sierra, frightened.

"Get the Daemon Edges back?" suggested Villager.

"No, that's a stupid idea," said Sierra.

"The wind says that you should get the Daemon Edges back!" said Salt.

"Brilliant, Salt! I knew I could count on you!" exclaimed Sierra.

Villager sulked.

"But they could be anywhere!" wailed Sierra.

"You don't have a clue who stole it?" asked Villager.

"Hmm…maybe….I think I got it…it must have been Lynn!" said Sierra.

"Lynn's near Goura's Gate. Good luck—I mean, uh, I hate you!" said Villager.

-----------------------------------------------Division Claws-----------------------------------------

Lynn was grumbling to herself. "I can't believe I wasn't invited to that stupid wedding…I'm much more important than half of the people here…"

"Blasphemy!" yelled a Villager up in a nearby tree.

"This isn't fair," continued Lynn, ignoring the outburst.

"Lies!" yelled Villager.

"Oh, hi Lynn," said Sierra. She strolled in, almost knocking over Lynn's tent. "I have a few…questions to ask you."

"Like what?" asked Lynn. "I didn't do anything."

"Really? Now what do I do…I have no leads!" said Sierra sadly.

"Hmm? Is something wrong, Sierra?" asked Lynn.

"Yeah. I need to find the Daemon Edges or I'll be a bad person forever!" confessed Sierra.

"But don't you need to find only one more?" asked Lynn.

"I got the other three stolen! Now I feel HORRIBLE! And you said you didn't do it so I have no idea who DID!" said an agonized Sierra.

"Oh. Well, talking is _supposed_ to make you feel better. So I hope that helped," said Lynn. "Now I'm going to go into my tent and feel sorry for myself that I wasn't invited to the wedding. Bye."

Lynn went into her tent, deciding that she didn't feel like helping Sierra with her problem.

What she was _really_ thinking was: '_Hehehehe! If Sierra's Daemon Edges were stolen, then I can steal them from the thief because whoever it was will probably hide it in a much easier to find place than Sierra, and then I can revive Goura! All my problems are solved! I can go on that date with Goura that I wanted to do for so long!'_

Lynn crept from the back-door-flap-thing in her tent and skulked into Entry Woods.

"Maybe…maybe Xeride stole it!" said Sierra to herself, snapping her fingers.

-------------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------------------

"I don't know anything about them. Nothing. Really. I'm not lying. Honest," said Xeride suspiciously.

"Oh…" said Sierra. She was almost as depressed as Nina Nina used to be.

"I can't believe I hang out with such a bad person," lamented Salt.

"Well, whatever you're thinking, it wasn't Gabriel who stole them nor the Black Swordsman. Okay? They'd _never_ do such a thing. Never. Really!" Xeride transcripted away nervously.

"He's being oddly specific," noted Sierra. "We're out of leads again…"

The Chief passed by. "I hate you for no particular reason whatsoever."

Then he left.

Sierra felt worse. "What should we do? Doesn't the wind usually know?"

"Umm….Let me ask. Tweeet….! Croaaaaak! Shwissshhhhh! The wind says that we should go to where the Borzak was, because we can feel the best breeze there and it might take your mind off of things," said Salt.

"A'right…that's better than what I was going to say! I thought we should binge on Tatiana's cookies in self pity," said Sierra.

---------------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------------

"This is a nice place. Let's stop here and have a picnic. I like the breeze," said the Black Swordsman.

"You can stop there," said Gedharm. "I have to get ready for the wedding."

"I _told_ you, Gedharm! Just pick between the blue tux or the bright orange one! I'll just summon something for you!" said Passeau.

"I want to wear a cape though," whined Gedharm.

Passeau sighed. "You're impossible…Fine, a cape. Those take more energy, so it's either the purple one or the pink one."

"Magenta or no deal!" said Gedharm.

"Okay, fine," said Passeau, rolling her eyes. "Let's go ahead. Ryouga, honey, want to stay here with the Black Swordsman?"

"Of course I do! He packed my favorite sandwiches!" said Ryouga.

Passeau and Gedharm left.

"So why'd I have to steal the Daemon Edges again?" asked the Black Swordsman.

"I told you for the millionth time! If we leave them with Sierra, she'll eventually be influenced by Lynn and revive Goura, and then Lynn will marry Goura and I'll have that annoying _thing_ for my brother-in-law!" explained Ryouga.

The Black Swordsman nodded gravely. "That sounds pretty bad."

"I'll meet up with you ahead. I forgot to tell Passeau-sweetie something," said Ryouga. He grabbed a sandwich and bolted.

The Black Swordsman gagged to himself.

Sierra and Salt chose that moment to arrive at the clearing. They spotted the Black Swordsman immediately.

"Hey Black Swordsman! Are you having a picnic? Say, those look awfully like the Daemon Edge scabbards with the Daemon Edges in them! Are they fakes?" asked Sierra.

"Uh…I guess?" said the Black Swordsman.

"Oh. Well, I really need to find the real ones. Or I'll be devil's spawn for the rest of my life," said Sierra, with tears threatening to fall.

"Um. Tough luck?" tried the Black Swordsman.

"If, if only I could find them," said Sierra. She started to cry. Salt innocently stuck his foot out while Sierra walked towards the Black Swordsman, and then Sierra tripped. She fell awkwardly close to the Black Swordsman. Some stray tears fell on his mask.

"No! This mask is washable!" exclaimed the Black Swordsman in a strained voice.

Sierra didn't hear him, but she got up, finished crying, and wiped her tears away.

OMC, Gabriel got to see Sierra cry MORE THAN ONCE.

Yes, Gabriel. For the mask was washed clean off with just a few tears. Oh no.

"Gabriel? When did you get here? Aww, you got to witness a weak and vulnerable moment of mine more than once…" commented Sierra.

"Heh heh…hi Sierra…" said Gabriel.

"Wait a second…" said Sierra. Her voice rose.

Gabriel looked nervous. "I'm sorry!"

"Huh? I was just going to say…You tripped me Salt!" accused Sierra.

Salt whistled innocently. "The wind said I didn't?"

"Oh. I guess I was wrong," said Sierra. "Maybe I tripped on a twig or something."

"Maybe you did," agreed Salt.

"Why did you apologize, Gabriel?" asked Sierra.

Gabriel broke down because of Sierra's stupidity. "Alright, listen! I'm the Black Swordsman! I stole the Daemon Edges! They're real, they're not fake!" He breathed hard. "Glad I got that off my chest."

"What are you TALKING about?" asked Sierra. "There is still a beetle on your chest."

"What?" Gabriel swatted the poor beetle and killed it. Then he said, "Were you listening to a THING I said?"

"…No," admitted Sierra.

Gabriel sighed. "These scabbards are real. They have the Daemon Edges in them."

"Really?" Sierra's eyes sparkled. "I'm not a bad person anymore! Woo-hoo! Let's hurry and go to that wedding now, Salt!"

"Wait! Sierra! We didn't give the Sweet Potato Fiends their neighborly present yet!" exclaimed Salt.

"Oh yeah. Bye Gabriel!" Sierra took the Daemon Edges and left with Salt.

"Now what am I going to tell Ryouga…" Gabriel said to himself. "My cover's blown. I have short hair so they're going to kick me out of Tatiana's Skilled…At least it didn't rain today…"

…It started to rain.

--------------------------------------------------Division Claws---------------------------------------

"We have a use for your umbrella now, Sierra!" said Salt happily.

Sierra grinned. "Right you are, Salt!"

------------------------------------Division Claws---------------------------------------------------

"I just got a stupid feeling that there'll be a really bad betrayal to our group," said Tatiana, with a hand to her heart.

--------------------------------------------Division Claws----------------------------------------

"Wrong way, Sierra!" said Salt _again_.

Sierra bumped into Ryouga. "Gah!...Oh, hi Ryouga. Gloomy sky, isn't it?"

"You! What're you doing with the Daemon Edge scabbards? I thought the Black Swordsman had them!" said Ryouga, shocked.

"The Black Swordsman sorta disappeared and Gabriel came in his place and told me I could have them…" explained Sierra.

"Gabriel? Now I know I can never trust that guy. At least the Black Swordsman is better than _him_," said Ryouga. "Anyway….Yoink!"

Ryouga ran far, far away with the Daemon Edges and got attacked by the demonic rabbit from way back in Chapter One. Apparently that rabbit doesn't actually die.

"Eh. No time worrying about this now. We have to go to that wedding," said Sierra.

----------------------------------------------Division Claws---------------------------------------

"You two can't get married till you have the right amount of SPIT, uh, excuse me, SPIRIT," said Toumei. Ignore the first typo, it was just an accident.

"Spirit…?" asked Byron.

"What should we do?" asked Sarin.

"Shout SPIRIT!" said Toumei.

"Um…Spirit," said Sarin.

"WEAK!" yelled Toumei.

"Spirit!" said Byron.

"WEAK!" yelled Toumei.

"SPIRIT!" yelled Byron and Sarin together just to shut up Toumei.

"Now I will chant an Omyoji chant so that you two will truly be unified," said Toumei.

He chanted an Omyoji chant.

Byron and Sarin both glowed, and then tiny orbs of light, much like Villager's, Nina Nina's, and Passeau's orbs of light, came out of them and then…Byron's orb of light entered Sarin's body, and Sarin's orb of light entered Byron's.

"What happened?" asked Sarin in Byron's body.

"I don't know," said Byron in Sarin's body. "Oh no! I'm…I'm Sarin! This is horrible! Ewww, I'm a mermaid!"

"Hey!" Sarin was obviously offended by that.

"We can't get married while I'm this…this….ewwwwww," said Byron.

"Ugh! You're so insensitive!" said Sarin, annoyed.

"Ewwwwwwwwww," continued Byron.

"It's not that bad!" snapped Sarin.

"I can't believe it! This is like a nightmare! Ew, ew, ew!" insisted Byron.

"You know what _I_ can't believe? I can't believe that I was even _thinking_ about marrying a jerk like you!" yelled Sarin.

"EW!" Byron gagged.

"TOUMEI! WHAT DID YOU DO?" yelled Tatiana. "Are you SABOTAGING this wedding? I sense DISSATISFIED customers!" She came down from the second floor, having not witnessed the problem. "Okay, what's the problem here?"

"They're bodies switched?" Toumei cowered in Tatiana's presence.

"Well FIX IT!" ordered Tatiana.

"Um. Have spirit again?" tried Toumei, directing this toward Byron and Sarin.

"I can't have spirit! I'm in this disgusting THING!" said Byron, thoroughly disgusted.

"UGH! I HATE YOU!" yelled Sarin.

"You're still going to pay right?" asked Tatiana.

"Like we're going to pay for the worst thing that happened in my life!" said Byron. "Ewww," he added.

Tatiana grabbed a high stool and stood on it. Then she grabbed his collar. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY AND YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT!"

"Yes ma'am…" said Byron, scared.

"As for YOU, Toumei, fix this!" ordered Tatiana.

"I'll try…" said Toumei, frightened.

"NOW!" yelled Tatiana.

Toumei flinched. Then he chanted an Omyoji chant rapidly that switched their bodies back to normal.

"I'm, I'm ME again!" said Byron, happier.

"Hmph! You owe me an apology, Byron!" said Sarin loudly.

"Sorry, love. But whatever I said was true," said Byron.

"I forgive you!" said Sarin. They kissed, and then got married and stuff.

Everyone else in the restaurant clapped.

"Let's open wedding presents now!" said Byron excitedly.

Sierra stepped forward with a yawn. "I didn't wrap mine. It's from Salt too. We were gonna give this to A through D as a neighborly present but we kept getting sidetracked so…here."

Sierra handed them a big (empty!) box.

"How lovely!" exclaimed Sarin.

"It's charming!" agreed Byron.

Then all the other presents were opened, and the celebrations finished late at night. Salt and Sierra decided to go for a walk before they went to sleep.

"I'm going to talk to the wind," said Salt.

"Hmm….I can talk to anyone from A through D because they'll be at Water Elemental's house…who should I talk to tonight?" said Sierra to herself.

---------------------------------------Division Claws--------------------------------------------------

_End of Day VIII_

_Talked with: _GUNVALD

"So. You're GUNVALD," said Sierra conversationally. "How do you do?"

GUNVALD just stood there.

"How rude! When someone talks to you, you're supposed to talk back!"

GUNVALD didn't reply.

"Honestly! Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

GUNVALD had nothing to say.

"Ugh. BRUNO talks back. Even BORGRIM roars back at me! What's your PROBLEM anyway?" asked Sierra angrily.

GUNVALD did not speak.

"It's like some kind of one-sided conversation!" exclaimed Sierra, annoyed.

It didn't take a genius to know that GUNVALD was inanimate. Unfortunately, Sierra was a complete idiot.

"TALK TO ME, DARN IT!" yelled Sierra, losing patience. Sierra threw a rock at GUNVALD.

GUNVALD's arm fell off.

"Uh-oh…" Sierra quickly took a post-it and messily wrote with a random pink crayon that was conveniently there: '_Xeride did it_.' She left the note there and went to bed.


	9. Chapter 9: Day IX

_Well, I think I tried my best for not writing this story for a while or playing the game. xD Uhh Sorry for the super long wait. NYbcr definitely rocks for all the reviews, and I used those endings. But I said Demonic Rabbit 'cuz I forgot it was rampaging. (too lazy to fix that) If I have any mistakes, say something 'cuz I did this really quick. I can post up more alternate endings too, so let me know if there are any requests! And if these endings suck (I did them super quick…) I'll fix 'em up. Yeah…I'm not too confident. I feel like I missed something.. _

_I wanted to have GUNVALD as a Transformer, but whatever. Someone should totally write that…hahaha_

Chapter Nine: Day IX

"Sierra?" Orin tentatively tried to open the door leading to Sierra's workshop. It didn't open. There was a heavy lock on the other side and lots of chains. Inside, the curtains were all drawn and a blanket was carelessly thrown over the forge so that there wouldn't be any light shining through. "Uh…We have….breakfast…."

Salt yawned, having just woken up. "What kind of breakfast?"

"Pancakes with maple syrup. Can you tell Sierra to hurry up? Dad said we can't eat till you two get up here," grumbled Orin.

"But Sierra's really hard to wake up…" complained Salt. It stretched, and its hand accidentally brushed the blanket. The blanket fell into the forge, and caught fire.

"L-light…turn it off…the light hurts…" moaned Sierra.

"What's going on?" asked Orin through the door.

The fire spread. Sierra's eyes opened wide and she jumped out of her bed and pounded on the door. "There's a freakin' fire here! ORIN OPEN THE DOOR! WAAH! FIRE! EEEEK! AIIEEE! GAAH! GEH!"

"You locked it!" snapped Orin. "YOU open the door!"

Sierra kept pounding on the door. "I'm gonna die! I'M GONNA FREAKIN' DIE ORIN!"

"And I'm too lazy to use my water magic," added Salt.

"Just unlock the door!"

"Fire fire fire fire!" panicked Sierra.

Orin sighed. "Okay, I'm going to grab a drill from my room…"

"OH NO IT'S KILLED SALT ALREADY!" yelled Sierra.

"Sierra…go on…without me…" said Salt, playing dead.

"Orin HURRY UP!" yelled Sierra. "This is such a stupid way to die!"

Orin came back a few seconds later. "Move away from the door, Sierra!"

"I can't there's fire behind me!" exclaimed Sierra, while Salt was busy blowing on the fire to make it spread.

Orin drilled through the door and made a hole. Sierra forced Salt through before it made the fire worse. Then she climbed through herself and Orin summoned his summon creature to put out the fire.

"Well that sucked," commented Sierra. "It's a good thing Ryouga stole the Daemon Edges again so that they wouldn't get burned."

"He WHAT?" yelled Orin.

"But, they would probably lose their shine in a fire!" tried Sierra.

"Ryouga having the Daemon Edges….somehow sounds really bad…But that problem compared to eating breakfast…Hmmm…." Orin weighed an imaginary scale in his head. "Who cares! Let's eat breakfast!"

"Breakfast!" Salt drooled.

The "siblings" and Salt happily made their way to the dining room. Nina Nina was serving pancakes in an eerily happy way, and generally being a little too close to Blaire.

"So how was everyone's day so far?" asked Blaire, once everyone was seated and eating.

"But the day just started," pointed out Orin.

Blaire ignored him.

"It was great! Because I was with _you_," said Nina Nina, winking at Blaire. She's similar to Passeau in that she found a crush. Yay!

"That's nice," said Blaire indifferently.

"I almost got killed today!" said Sierra cheerfully. "It was great!"

"I helped Sierra almost get killed today!" added Salt. "It was great!"

Blaire gushed with happiness. "You two are truly part of my family! I'm so proud to be sort of but not really related to you!"

--Division Tomato--

"We need to make more weapons, Salt! They all burned in the fire!" exclaimed Sierra, back at the workshop after a marvelous breakfast.

"The wind says that weapons shouldn't burn like that, and if they do they must have really sucked," said Salt.

"Salt are you gonna keep yappin' or are you gonna help me wake a weapon!" exclaimed Sierra, who didn't take in a word Salt said. They threw in materials and made a weapon that looked like a sponge. It was soft too!

Sierra's rank went down, skipping all the way to "You should really reconsider being a Craftknight."

"Yay! We can use this when we take that bath with the Vulgar Horn or whatever!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Ooh! Make me one too!" said Salt enthusiastically.

They started making another weapon, but only succeeded in a blob. (Sierra's rank couldn't go lower, unfortunately). Salt ate it and gained fifty experience points!

--Division Tomato--

Sierra and Salt were taking a walk, when Xeride glided by, closely being chased by Villagers. Sierra wanted to see what was going on and accidentally collided into Xeride. Sierra's hard head SMAAASHED into Xeride, creating a dent.

"Ouch," said Xeride plainly.

"Hi!" said Sierra cheerfully. "Villager! Long time no see! Oh-em-see, did your cat ever get together with the handsome cat by the waterfall?"

"Sierra! My cat HATES that cat, what the heck are you talking about?" stated Villager. "Anyway, this robot thing destroyed the town's action figure! Y'know, the really big one that we're trying to win the world record for!"

"Yeah! Yeah! I think its name is GUNVALD!" added another Villager.

"It's arm was broken CLEAN OFF! This fiend!" yelled yet another Villager.

"Gasp!" gasped Sierra. "How could you, Xeride! I thought I could trust you!"

"I'm innocent!" exclaimed Xeride. "I'm telling you people, I didn't do it!"

Xeride's radio was playing suspicious music.

"Let's make him peel all our onions!"

"Let's eat candy and make him watch us!"

"Let's throw tomatoes at him!"

"Let's force him to listen to Chief talk!"

"No! Anything but that!" yelled Xeride. "I didn't do anything to GUNVALD! I barely know what that is!"

"Let's make him eat Tatiana's cookies!" piped up Salt. "The wind says so!"

Villager (s) shuddered. One of them said "That might be too much of a punishment…"

"Let's feed him to Borgrim!" exclaimed Sierra.

"OKAY!" cheered Villagers. They assaulted Xeride and dragged him in the general direction of Borgrim's cave.

"It's so brave," said Sierra, wiping a tear from her eye. "That Xeride. Taking the fall for me."

"Yeah, the wind told me it was you all along. You're really mean, Sierra," said Salt. "That's what I like about you!"

"Thanks, Salt!"

Gabriel came ambling over at that moment. "Anyone see Xeride?"

"Villager and Villager and Villager and Villager--" started Sierra.

Gabriel sighed. "What about Villagers?"

"They took Xeride and they're feeding him to Borgrim!" said Sierra.

"Oh no!" said Gabriel.

"Why the heck are you worried?" asked Sierra.

"Borgrim will get indigestion!" clarified Gabriel. "We have to do something!"

There was an earthquake.

"What's goin' on? Have you gained weight, Salt?" asked Sierra.

"The wind says I didn't…." mumbled Salt.

Gabriel, on the other hand, figured out what was going on. "Borgrim must want to eat Xeride! He's acting up! What should we do?"

"Orin's on the job!" said Orin, running to the scene with a bunch of drills and wrenches and other tools. "At times like these, we need to animate the town action figure, GUNVALD!"

"But Xeride broke it," explained Sierra.

"Oh, then we should let Borgrim eat it," stated Orin.

"Did you come here just to say that?" asked Gabriel. "Besides, Borgrim will get indigestion."

Orin flinched. "Well I came here because I had nothing better to do. But if Borgrim gets indigestion, he'll throw up all over town and we'll all die because of his toxic vomit!"

"Wh-what? This is worse than that whole Daemon Edge thing that's entirely my fault!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Hmm…There's no time for a town meeting now…That and all the Villagers are gone attacking Xeride…So there's only one thing we can do," concluded Orin.

"Move to a different town?" asked Sierra hopefully.

"That's silly! The best place to live is on a cliff where you can fall at any time since we don't have any railings!" disagreed Orin. "Nope, the only thing we can do is feed Borgrim something that won't upset his stomach."

"But what would that be?" asked Gabriel.

"Let's raid Tatiana's restaurant!" suggested Sierra.

"No, Borgrim doesn't like curry. Nina Nina told me," said Orin.

"Then…what does Borgrim eat?" asked Gabriel.

"Borgrim eats people," said Orin. "The only person that I wouldn't mind Borgrim eating from this town is Lynn, but she seemed to have skipped town."

"I'll ask the wind!" exclaimed Salt. "SWISSHHH! BAAAA! The wind thinks we should go to the hot springs. Someone is always at the hot springs. And since they're strangers, it should be fine to feed them to Borgrim."

"That's a great idea, Salt!" cheered Sierra. "Let's go!"

"How much time do we have?" asked Gabriel.

"Not much. Wanna come with me while I fix GUNVALD? When I was younger and it worked, it was tons of fun," said Orin.

"Sure!" exclaimed Gabriel happily.

--Division Tomato--

"Bruno! Bruno! We have to go to the hot springs! It's an emergency!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Um…okay…" said Bruno, who couldn't think of why it would be an emergency. He transcripted them to the hot springs. "If you need me I'll be relaxing in the springs…"

Sierra noticed a pillar, where the Dungeon Dude usually writes something. There was something engraved on it:

_Welcome. Enjoy your time at the hot springs. Have a nice day!_

"Oh by the way! There are all these hot geysers all over. If you're standing on one of them it'll hurt a lot," said Bruno indifferently, and then drifted toward the springs.

Sierra and Salt started to walk. After a while, Sierra was getting a little annoyed.

"I thought Orin said there was lotsa people here! How come no one's at this place? Huh? Huh?" snapped Sierra.

"Sierra! There are people over there!"

"Where?" Sierra followed Salt and saw a man without a shirt on in the springs. I don't remember if there were scars on his back or anything, but whatever. Sierra didn't notice them anyway!

A girl screamed.

"Salt, shut up! I'm trying to stare at this hot guy!" snapped Sierra.

"What the?" the guy turned around and saw Sierra drooling. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"

Sierra fumbled and grabbed her sponge and Fulgar Horn. She waddled into the spring. The guy and his sister backed away and ran off to get their clothes.

"Darn it," grumbled Sierra.

--Division Tomato--

"We're back! And we're going to get revenge, you peeping tom!" said the girl angrily.

"My name's Sierra," pointed out Sierra. "And I didn't do anything but stare at that guy! It was fun."

"That's sick!" accused the girl.

"The springs are for everyone!" said Sierra defensively. "So. Dude. What's your name?"

"Kuuhya," said the guy conversationally. "This is my sister Kohina."

"Kuuhya! You can't mingle with other people!" exclaimed Kohina. "We're diseased, remember!"

Sierra gasped, and took a step back. "You're diseased? Eww!"

"Kohina! Stop doing that to every girl I meet!" said Kuuhya, who was actually just desperate.

"But you have no future with her! She's one of those…_well_ people!" shot back Kohina.

"Um, umm, I liked it better when Kuuhya was in the springs without clothes on," said Sierra.

"You! Go kill that monster that cursed us! Then I'll approve a relationship with my brother!" said Kohina.

"Wait up! I just want to feed you two to Borgrim!" said Sierra hastily.

"What's a Borgrim?" asked Kuuhya.

"I'll show you if you follow me back to my village," said Sierra evilly.

"Okay!" agreed Kuuhya.

"Wait! Wait! No way I'm letting him do that, if we're both still diseased! You're not feeding that Borgrim till you help us!" exclaimed Kohina.

Sierra sighed. "Why can't you do it?"

"Be-because! There was a sword behind him, see, and it was just so shiny that I was blinded. The monster was sick, and it's contagious, and while I was being blinded, it got too close and…my sickness spread to Kuuhya! It's all my fault!" confessed Kohina.

"On top of that, she won't let me get a date," grumbled Kuuhya.

"Wait a second. Am I gonna get sick too, 'cause I've been talking to you two?" asked Sierra.

"It spreads through casual contact," said Kohina. "Like the time when I bumped into Kuuhya."

"She's clumsy," added Kuuhya. "She's a failure of a ninja."

--Division Tomato--

"That's the monster! Alright, see ya!" Kohina left.

In front of Sierra was a big monkey. And a sword was behind the monkey. The shine reflected on a crystal on the ceiling, which caused the light to bounce on a mirror that was carelessly on the floor, and then the ray shined on a shard of glass, and finally into Sierra's eyes.

"AAAAHH! IT BURNS!" shrieked Sierra. The monkey felt bad for Sierra and tried to hand her sunglasses, which it did to Kohina before. The sunglasses had the monkey's germs on it.

But Sierra was flailing around, missing the sunglasses each time. Finally, she bumped into the handle of the Daemon Edge and fell onto the floor.

The shine couldn't reach her from there, and she rubbed her eyes. "I can see again! Hey…Salt! It's a shiny Daemon Edge! Lucky!"

Sierra grabbed the Daemon Edge. She held it up in triumph, but it accidentally knocked the monkey's sunglasses off. The monkey made an agonized noise and melted because of now shiny it was.

"Oops. I think I killed it," mumbled Sierra.

Ryouga entered the room. "I thought you'd get another one by now. Give it to me."

"No way! It'll look awesome in my room!" Sierra paused. "Oh. That's burnt now…Never mind."

"Whatever. You don't need it right? So give it here!" demanded Ryouga. "Or I'll take it by force."

"You look different today, Ryouga. But…I can't tell how…I know you didn't get a haircut…"

"Listen, just because you say I need one, doesn't mean I'm going to get one!" snapped Ryouga.

"I didn't say that this time! What do you think, Salt?" asked Sierra.

Salt stared at Ryouga. Ryouga looked nervous.

"There's red stuff all over that guy's face," said Salt.

"My name is Ryouga!" grumbled Ryouga.

"Yeah! It looks like someone's kissed you all over!" said Sierra. "With new lipstick!"

"That Passeau! I can't steal the Daemon Edge like this…" said Ryouga sadly. He turned to leave.

"W-wait! Ryouga! Use the Daemon Edge to wipe off the marks!" said Sierra, handing it over.

"Thanks," said Ryouga. He used the handle of the sword, and surprisingly the marks came off. "Now I can steal it—oh. Uh, later, Sierra."

Ryouga walked off with the last Daemon Edge.

"Sierra! The wind says that Borgrim could be throwing up over the town any second now!" exclaimed Salt. "It'll be disgusting to go back there!"

"Maybe there's still time to feed Kuuhya and Kohina to Borgrim!"

--Division Tomato--

"I'm allergic to ninjas. If I try to transcript them, we'll probably be transported to a random time and place," said Bruno flatly.

"But they're the only ones in the hot spring! We need to feed Borgrim SOMETHING!" exclaimed Sierra.

"Oh well," said Kohina.

"Bye Salt," said Kuuhya.

"Bye Kuuhya!" said Salt.

Sierra sulked. Bruno transcripted her and Salt, but the ninjas were still too close and they were transcripted to where Orin and Gabriel were. Which was inside GUNVALD.

"Yo GUNVALD! What's the haps? Long time no see!" said Bruno happily. He floated out to talk to GUNVALD face to face, who was still inanimate.

"Hey, Sierra. Borgrim's going crazy right now, and Xeride's somehow still safe," said Orin. "We only just finished repairing the arm. If we pull this switch, GUNVALD will become a super cool destructive weapon! Then we can face off against Borgrim in an epic over the top fight!"

"Will Borgrim die?" asked Salt.

"Nah, but he won't be hungry anymore," said Orin.

"What happened to feeding Borgrim something else?" asked Gabriel.

"That's not nearly as cool," said Sierra quickly, who didn't bring anyone else to feed to Borgrim.

"Sierra's right!" Orin flipped the switch, and GUNVALD lit up in pretty colors. "We can control GUNVALD from here. It's just like a TV show!"

(Warning, extreme violence follows)

"You're enjoying this too much," said Gabriel with a frown.

"You shut up! This is what happens when I'm stuck at home with my dad all the time!" snapped Orin. "Let's destroy the world, GUNVALD! MUAHAHAHAHA!"

"I wonder if this is worse than being covered in vomit or Goura getting revived," wondered Sierra.

"We've created a monster!" gasped Gabriel, pointing at Orin who was still laughing manically. GUNVALD was now stomping towards Borgrim's cave. Lots of trees were carelessly murdered along the way, along with friendly bird summon creatures.

"KABOOM!" yelled Orin, as a missile was released and a tent was struck.

"You jerk!" yelled a merchant, shaking a fist.

GUNVALD stomped the merchant.

"MUAHAHAHA! DIE!" Orin cackled. Lightning flashed behind him, since GUNVALD had cool effects.

"Sierra, your semi-brother has issues," stated Gabriel.

"I don't know, I think it's cool," admitted Sierra. "Orin, kill that guy too!"

"Yes ma'am!" said Orin, pushing a button.

--Division Tomato--

"ROAR!" yelled Borgrim. Xeride was slowly being lowered into a big pot filled with boiling water. Villagers had tied him to a rope and dropped him closer to the pot with each passing second.

GUNVALD shot missiles at the pot. A small hole appeared on the side. Villagers dispersed in all different directions so that they wouldn't get scalded. Then GUNVALD stomped on the pot, completely crushing it.

"ROAR!" Borgrim was unhappy that its snack was cruelly taken away. Xeride found itself inside GUNVALD.

"Xeride! You're safe!...ish," said Sierra. Xeride was red because of the heat.

"Better hold on to something!" warned Orin. "This is going to be messy. CHAAAAARGE!"

GUNVALD bashed hard into Borgrim.

"Aaah!" Sierra, Salt, and Gabriel were knocked onto the other wall.

"This is insane!" gasped Gabriel.

"Borgrim's not backing down! I think he wants to eat us!" announced Orin.

"Dude! I'm way too young to die!" yelled Sierra.

"GUNVALD PUNCH!" yelled Orin. GUNVALD threw back a fist and punched Borgrim. Borgrim blocked, and slapped GUNVALD. GUNVALD fell to the ground with a massive earthquake.

The people inside GUNVALD sustained minor bruises.

"Orin! Get GUNVALD up and DESTROY Borgrim! Give him a jump kick!" said Sierra.

"On it!" Borgrim laughed at the jump kick.

"LASERRR!" yelled Orin as he pressed more buttons.

Borgrim staggered. Then, it rammed into GUNVALD.

"This isn't working!" said Gabriel, who has had enough. "And it hurts!"

"Put a sock in it, kid! That's not all this baby's got!" said Orin. He pulled a lever and GUNVALD threw bombs at Borgrim.

"ROAR!" Borgrim deflected the bombs and opened its mouth. GUNVALD quickly moved before Borgrim could chomp on its fingers.

"If it eats GUNVALD, it'll definitely get indigestion!" said Orin. "Let's step it up. I call this the GUNVALD Combo!"

A series of punches and kicks and clawing had Borgrim on the ground begging for mercy. Sierra, Salt, and Gabriel cheered. Borgrim crawled back to its cave.

"YES! Now let's blow up a mountain or something!" exclaimed Orin in victory.

"I really want to go back to my world right now," said Gabriel. Xeride nodded.

GUNVALD stopped running and broke down.

"Out of fuel," grumbled Orin. "I guess I'm calling off world domination for now. Alright, everyone out."

--Division Tomato--

"So how was everyone's day?" asked Nina Nina with a smile. She finished serving the potatoes and sat down.

"Pretty good," said Orin. "Almost as good as these potatoes. So glad Tatiana's not here to ruin this moment."

Nina Nina beamed.

"Oh by the way, Ryouga has all four Daemon Edges," said Sierra.

"That sounds pretty bad," said Blaire. "I guess I have no choice. Tomorrow I will show you the secret family recipe!"

"I can't cook," said Sierra.

"Not you, Nina Nina! That way we'll have a good meal before we all die because of how annoying Goura is," said Blaire.

"Is this the famous recipe I've been searching for? With chicken?" asked Nina Nina.

"Is that why you've come to these lands?" asked Blaire. "Yes! Yes it is! Only the best of chefs can learn this recipe from me. You've passed, Nina Nina. That, and I think that Sierra will fail tomorrow."

"Yeah! Good food!" cheered Sierra.

"Sierra's an underachiever," noted Salt.

"That's our Sierra!" said Orin, giving her a thumbs up. "If you don't manage to destroy the world, I'll finish the job for ya."

--Division Tomato--

_End of Day IX_

_Talked with: Water Elemental_

"If Goura really is that annoying, than tonight might be our last night to walk around," mused Sierra. "I'm goin' out to talk to someone! Later Salt!"

"Okay! I'll be talking to the wind!" lied Salt.

Sierra walked to the fishing pond and accidentally fell in. Water Elemental was already in there enjoying a swim.

"Sierra…" Water Elemental was pleasantly surprised. "Did you come to see me?"

"Nope," said Sierra. "It's really cold here…"

"I'll warm you up," said Water Elemental. Sierra soon found herself between two claws.

"Th-this is even c-colder!" shivered Sierra. "Get off!"

"Never!" said Water Elemental.

"S-so what d-do you th-think of Cl-cliff V-village so f-far?" asked Sierra.

"It's a beautiful place! I want to live here forever…with you."

"Uh huh…"

"And also so I can finally beat that old man who always stands in front of the fish pond in a fishing contest. I'm allied with the Chief now!" said Water Elemental.

"Can we PLEASE get outta this stupid pond so I don't freeze to death?" snapped Sierra.

Water Elemental listened to Sierra.

"Finally! Hey, you are kinda warm. I didn't notice while we were in that freezing water. Do you glow in the dark too?" asked Sierra.

"No," said Water Elemental. "But I grow chocolate claws."

Sierra blushed. "I think…I really really like you…"

"Tomorrow morning, I'm challenging that old man to a fishing contest. If I win…will you go out with me?" asked Water Elemental.

"S-sure," stuttered Sierra.

Later, Sierra stumbled back to her workshop and tried to sort out her feelings for Water Elemental and those bad images of Kuuhya.

_Alternate Ending:_

_Talked with: Demonic Rabbit_

Sierra walked around, somewhere between her house and Goura's Gate. The Demonic Rabbit attacked her.

"Gaaah!" yelled Sierra as something fluffy landed on her. She flicked it off and saw the rabbit. "Oh. Hey."

It snarled at her.

"Wh-what'd I do?" asked Sierra.

The rabbit grabbed Sierra's hammer from her and lifted it up as revenge for chapter one.

"Uh…what are you gonna do with that?"

It tried to hit her, but she dodged. "Put the freakin' hammer down or no one gets hurt!" said Sierra, holding up her sponge in defiance.

The rabbit laughed at her. It showed Sierra some pieces of Ryouga's clothing that it ripped when it attacked him, and also some strands of his hair. Sierra gulped. The rabbit meant business.

But then a little lightbulb clicked off in her head.

"Hey…Let's make a deal. You like attacking things right?" asked Sierra.

The rabbit nodded.

"That guy, the one whose clothes these are…His hair is way too long and he won't get a haircut. If you can cut off his hair to a reasonable length…I'll give you something you want," said Sierra.

The rabbit pointed to the hammer, the sponge, and drew a picture of some food on the soil on the ground.

"Agreed. Cut his hair tomorrow morning and you get your reward. They shook hands/paws/whatever.

Sierra went back to her workshop in glee.


End file.
